The study compared two groups of people. The first was a group of 141 patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and were treated with a three-drug cocktail over a period of five days. The three drugs included a low dose of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, the mineral zinc, and the antibiotic azithromycin. These patients were compared to a control group of 377 people who also had the virus but did not receive the treatment.
According to the study, the odds of treated patients being hospitalized was 84% lower than those of untreated patients. Just one patient in the treatment group died versus 13 in the untreated group. The patient in the treatment group who passed away had a history of cancer and had only taken the triple therapy once before being admitted to the hospital.
Hydroxychloroquine has been shown in study after study to be an effective treatment for the disease, but the mainstream media has been going out of its way to criticize it ever since President Trump voiced support for the drug in the early days of the pandemic.
Previous research supports the efficacy of HCQ
Meanwhile, research carried out by the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan found that COVID-19 patients taking hydroxychloroquine were more likely to survive the illness while being treated in the hospital. In the peer-reviewed study, which was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 13 percent of patients who were given hydroxychloroquine died compared to 26 percent of patients who were not given the drug.
The lead author of the newer study, Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, and his team set out to determine how high-risk patients with lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus would fare with an early treatment of the three-drug cocktail.
The study's authors wrote: "In this multi-hospital assessment, when controlling for COVID-19 risk factors, treatment with hydroxychloroquine alone and in combination with azithromycin was associated with reduction in COVID-19 associated mortality." (Related: JAMA article affirms benefits of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19.)
They say that what set their study apart was the fact that the patients involved were diagnosed very early with the virus in an outpatient setting and the treatment was only given to those who were considered at high risk.
Unfortunately, it's a treatment that many patients will never get thanks to the efforts of the mainstream media and social media. A group called America's Frontline Doctors held an event this summer in front of the Supreme Court in which they shared their successes treating COVID-19 patients with the drug.
One of the doctors at the event, Dr. Stella Immanuel, said that she had successfully treated 350 coronavirus patients who were in the early stages of the disease using the treatment.
The video was shared across social media, including by President Trump. However, not long afterward, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pulled the video, claiming that it was spreading misinformation about the virus. Donald Trump Junior saw his Twitter account suspended after sharing the video.
A study that was published in The Lancet claiming that HCQ could be dangerous for some patients was later retracted, although the media did not report much on that either.
Dr. Zelenko said: "It's unfortunate that much of the media coverage surrounding hydroxychloroquine has been negative. These three medications are affordable, available in pill form, and work in synergy against COVID-19."
As long as Big Tech and the mainstream media continue to protect the profits of their Big Pharma sponsors, this potentially valuable treatment is unlikely to gain wide usage, despite all the studies showing that it has the potential to save many lives.
Pandemic.news has more on the latest studies about COVID-19.
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