As per the guidelines by the Infectious Disease Society of America, hospitals are advised to completely stop using the drug to treat COVID-19 patients
The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) has revised its treatment guidelines for use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 affected patients.
As per the guidelines updated on August 21, hospitals are advised to completely stop using the drug to treat COVID-19 patients – even in clinical trials, Bloomberg reported.
This is a reversal from its previous stance recommending “limited use” of hydroxychloroquine during trails – either by itself or along with the antibiotic azithromycin for patients that tested positive of the novel coronavirus.
A statement from the Society said its expert panel had concluded that “higher certainty benefits (e.g., mortality reduction) for the use of these treatments are now highly unlikely even if additional high quality data would become available.”
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The decision comes as the effectiveness of the anti-malarial drug against COVID-19 remains under debate, even while it is endorsed by United States President Donald Trump.
Besides IDSA, a US National Institutes of Health panel had also earlier recommended dropping use of hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin, except for clinical trials, citing increased risk of cardiac arrest.
Globally, there have been over 2.28 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 7.93 lakh people have died so far.
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