If this goes viral watch the media go into overdrive to discredit since Trump mentioned trying this weeks ago.
Yes, it will be a great boon should such proofs continue to arise, suffering abate, healing follow on, but then, what to make of stories like this: Breitbart — “Twitter Forces Laura Ingraham to Delete Post on Chloroquine Helping Coronavirus Patients”
The evidence is piling up. But it will never be enough for the American medical community. They won’t accept it until it has been tested for a couple of years, when the point is already moot.
I also hope it is true, and that the good doctor is not delusional.
RTWT – it should be a Tim Conway piece on the old Carol Burnett show!
And with the Big Pharma donating so many million doses, trials will be in realtime, hopefully with no placebos.
This is very worth reading i think. Derek has always been trustworthy as far as my experience goes. It’s about the well known French studies, and is sadly not optimistic for several reasons. https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/29/more-on-cloroquine-azithromycin-and-on-dr-raoult
Regarding Dr Zalenko, some very basic questions are unanswered, such as where did this small community doctor get access to at least half of the patients in his county?
I was deeply thrilled when I first saw the results of the first small french study, and I linked to it several times, but I’m now waiting for data from any study done with good controls and complete data.
Fingers crossed.
I saw the story earlier today but I’ve learned not to get my hopes up since it goes against the media’s narrative that we’re all going to die. My wife made the mistake of watching the first 5 minutes of the news tonight. She started wheezing and had to turn it off.
Crank up production of hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), zinc tabs, and the Z-paks, and let’s put them to work as an immediate clinical trial. To hell with randomization and double-blinded. Just gather the data as we go, as Zelenko claims he has done.
This is not toxic cancer chemotherapy! Should not take long! A couple of weeks tops.
This either works or does no harm and does not alter outcomes.
Beats the present course of shutting down the country (e.g. Virginia- until June 10!)
700 patients treated in 7 days, that’s 100 per day. He’s got to have a considerable staff to do that, plus they have to monitor them all. He’s part of an orthodox Jewish religious community so it may be possible with the community pitching in. It’s not something a sole practitioner can do. Let’s hope he’s for real.
Fred the Fourth:
He has a semi-captive pool of patients. They’re not going to go to a doctor outside their very much keep to themselves Ultra Orthodox Jewish community unless they absolutely cannot help it… and maybe not even then.
Just occasionally, being a Stiff Necked People Apart does have some big payoffs. Let’s hope this good doctor’s results stand up to scrutiny and that compelling evidence of his treatment regime’s efficacy will short-circuit Peer Review, p-Hacker Cultists in thrall to Big Pharma. One can hope.
The Governor of Michigan would yank this doc’s license. She should be recalled.
I have had more than a few bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis over the years, and Z-pak antibiotic treatments have always worked for me. Knocks out the infection very quickly. Have read many reports of the apparent success of the z-pak in combo with hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19. These drugs are fairly cheap and already widely available, aren’t they? Why would it be complicated to prescribe this combo?
Tom Maguire, who is not stupid, recounts the negative evidence. He’s gradually and reluctantly thinking the malaria/antibiotic cocktail is not going to pan out. For sure, testing should go forward. But hold your hopes close for now …
Supply and distribution of hydroxychloroquine may be a problem, but Z-paks are commonplace though production must also be increased greatly.
As I said above, let’s crank her up and get her going!
This combo has been talked about since late January, with some use in S. Korea as I remember. Trump needs to invoke the Emergency Powers Act to push the drugs’ production. If they don’t help, well, they will not make hardly anyone ill either.
I too hope this is not to good to be true.
As far as ‘double blind randomized’ studies go, there is precedent for jettisoning them and going ahead with widespread use. One example I am personally familiar with is Herceptin, a breast cancer drug. Early results from the trials were deemed so effective that the ‘control’ aspect was abandoned and the drug was given to everyone in the study. It was felt that to withhold treatment was tantamount to malpractice.
Cornhead:
Yet more arguments for having a doctor in a place near you who fears only his Beit Din and not some jumped up Governoress or a bunch of State and Federal officials who only know how to throw sand in the gears.
This guy also knows he will never be opportunistically sued by his patients for ‘malpractice’ — see Beit Din above.
Local / State / Federal representatives and officialdom know that they mess with the Hasidim at their peril; large voting bloc + other ‘Soft Power’.
I’m not being tongue-in-cheek either. A leavening (not a deluge, mind you) of the right kind of diversity which keeps to its own devices can be a Very Good Thing.
Being blunt about these matters because if it turns out that the doctor has saved us all a great deal of heartbreak and suffering, we will be deluged with the usual nonsensical head scratching about why it was that it came from him and not the NIH, CDC, HSPH, etc. The answer will be very simple but will necessarily be obfuscated for a bunch of reasons I think we can all work out for ourselves.
Regarding Dr Zalenko, some very basic questions are unanswered, such as where did this small community doctor get access to at least half of the patients in his county?
Dr. Zalenko is the primary car physician for much of Kiryas Joel, a densely populated enclave of Satmar chassidim about an hour north of NYC. There are about 35,000 people living in an area that’s about one square mile. He’s said that he believes about 90% of the town is infected.
As was seen in the recent measles outbreak, orthodox Jews are vulnerable to the spread of viral diseases. They travel a lot between various Jewish communities here and abroad, they regularly attend synagogue services, weddings and other family celebrations with lots of people, and it’s a very small community with few degrees of separation.
I live in the Detroit area but I’ve assumed since there was an outbreak at Young Israel of New Rochelle about a month ago that I was likely going to be exposed.
My suspicion based on my education is that the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine involves its ability to facilitate the entry of zinc into cells infected with the virus, where the zinc then acts to inactivate the RNA replicase that allows the virus to multiply.
I also suspect that this effect needs to happen early-on in the infection, long before the patients need hospitalization, when the virus is predominately in the nasopharynx. Before it reaches the lungs to any degree.
By decreasing replication in the nasopharynx, it appears that the lung problems do NOT arise.
I have no idea how azythromycin comes in to play here.
Waiting to use it until patients need hospitalization is likely inappropriate use of this modality, and explains why it fails in that setting.
I have no problem believing that once word got out in his tight community that there was a doctor willing to treat, he had 700 people come for scripts for this combo.
I hope he does have data (as in positive tests) to back up his claims as to number treated and effectiveness.
Gov Whitmer’s actions in limiting physicians from prescribing this widely available, inexpensive drug early to people willing to to accept the risks of treatment is unconscionable and indefensable. She needs smarter medical advisors than she has. “First do no harm” does not mean stop thinking, sit by and do nothing.
But it will never be enough for the American medical community. They won’t accept it until it has been tested for a couple of years, when the point is already moot.
The CDC and FDA are not “The American Medical Community” although Obama care is changing it politically. Doctors used to be small business owners and are now employees with the corresponding change in politics.
I find Lee’s suppositions valid, based on my sister-in-law’s experience.
As I already said in another post, she’s a pulmonary physicist and she’s been taking chloroquine (which variant I don’t know) for weeks, certainly as a preventive measure since she’s constantly in touch with infected people. I don’t know, however, if her patients are being cured with the same medicine.
Paolo, please direct me to that post, or post the dosage she’s following here.
Frontline physician; not interested in martyrdom.
Thank you.
Folks remarking on Zalenko’s community demographics,
Thanks, informative and confidence boosting.
Still fingers crossed.
Nothing in today’s NYTimes free corona virus Daily Briefing about Dr. Zelenko, his results, or any other therapy, just infection #s. All fear, no hope!
In a casual scan of companies that produce one or both of the two chloroquines I found: Bayer, Sandoz, Sanofi, Mylan, and Amneal. Amneal is producing it in New Jersey, and Mylan hopes to have a W. Virginia factory producing it by mid April.
Louisiana (as well as Texas and NY) are getting shipments from Amneal. The state AG is handling the transfer and in an interview struck a test-and-evaluate tone on the one hand, with LSU doing a clinical trial, and on the other hand said that frontline health care workers will receive prophylactic doses. I’ll bet the self-important politicians will get prophylactic doses too.
Hi Lee,
i tried to call my brother for some details about the dosage, but I can’t find him now.
I’ll give you the information as soon as possible.
My wife and I listened to an interview (by Rudy Guiliani) with Dr. Zalenko. He is treating some people telephonically – they provide their temperature, symptoms, time since onset, etc. He uses the antibiotics “defensively” (my term) – he finds that many people with flu-like symptoms develop secondary bacterial infections.
Bob Andrews:
Have these patients all had positive COVID tests?
Thanks for these comments about Dr. Zalenko’s practice, which lend credence to the story.
If the HC/AZ treatment works (and it certainly seems to), and if we get to the point where it can be prescribed before patients need to go to the hospital, we could really turn a corner nationally.
Sorry, I have bad news: my brother Silvio has caught pneumonia, certainly from her wife Simonetta.
Silvio saw my phone call and we exchanged some messages on WhatsApp.
He wrote “sono ottimista, ma è dura, ho delle febbri assurde”, “I’m optimistic, but it’s hard, I’ve got some absurd fevers”.
I’ll call him tomorrow, tonight he’s too tired.
His daughter Erica, a young doctor herself, has completely recovered but her conditions were never alarming.
Fortunately my brother is in the best hands and he’s a strong guy. As I said, they are heroes: Simonetta is working 14/15 hours a day. My brother is the director of a center for gravely handicapped people in Cantù.
I don’t know if Silvio was taking chloroquine, or if he’s taking it now. I didn’t ask.
Re Neo’s question: “Have these patients all had positive COVID tests?”
No. He noticed that while patients presented with flu-like symptoms (influenza A or B), they also had (1) a loss of taste and smell, and (2) diarrhea. He has deep contacts at NYC hospitals, so he called and got information on patients with similar symptoms and inquired as to how they were being treated. Through his research he found a number of sources that described this treatment, and on this basis proceeded with the hydroxychloroquine, zinc and antibiotic treatment for his patients.
My prayers for Silvio and his family will begin immediately. Please let us know how he does when you can and want to.
Bob Andrews:
Then I’m sorry to say I think his results are meaningless. The number of people with flu who think they have COVID is large.
Paulo Pagliaro:
Best wishes and hopes for your brother’s speedy recovery!
Paulo, your family is in our prayers.
Dr. Ian Lipkin, prof. of epidemiology at Columbia, has been working hard to get FDA approval for treatments that utilize blood plasma extracted from recovered covid-19 patients. Just minutes ago he said that we are very close to an FDA approval.
The U.S. is 3,000+ deaths into this thing, and they are now very close to doing something obvious to treat patients. Maybe this is truly very fast and responsive, but it doesn’t feel like it.
Dr. Lipkin tested positive for covid-19 many days ago and has been taking hydroxychloroquine as prescribed by his doctor. While he was never in serious condition, he was feeling terrible and is now feeling much better. He urges controlled testing of hydroxychloroquine, so we can know its efficacy.
Thank you Sharon, Neo and Kate.
I’ve talked with my nephew Erica a couple hours ago, who said yesterday she was quite worried.
My brother’s condition is still serious, but at least fever has now disappeared.
Of course the real danger is the low oxygen saturation: his level yesterday was around 91 (normally it should be between 95 and 100). They decided not to go to the hospital because it could still be a dangerous place, even if the situation in Lombardy has improving markedly in the last few days; another reason is that, once in the hospital, he would be segregated for at least two weeks and they prefer to cure him personally (they have an oxygen tank at home).
Since my wife is slightly ill and coughs – together with two of my sons – today I took a day of holiday in order to do the family shopping (is this the correct term?) at the supermarket; on the way home I stopped at the church to pray before the Holy Sacrament: inside, there were only me and the dear Lord.
@Lee
I asked my nephew about the medicine she and her mother are taking. The medicine name is “Plaquenil”: it’s basesd on “idrossiclorochina” (Italian name) and, according to Erica, is officially and widely used in Lombardy not only to protect before the infection, but also and perhaps especially as a cure for already sick people.
The dosage is as follow (a single pill is 200mg):
– first day: four pills, for a total of 800mg
– subsequent days: 2 pills, for a daily total of 400mg
She also told me for how many days they cure usually lasts, but I forgot that detail.
I’m seeing that there’s some debate about Plaquenil also in Italy.
For instance:
If this goes viral watch the media go into overdrive to discredit since Trump mentioned trying this weeks ago.
Yes, it will be a great boon should such proofs continue to arise, suffering abate, healing follow on, but then, what to make of stories like this: Breitbart — “Twitter Forces Laura Ingraham to Delete Post on Chloroquine Helping Coronavirus Patients”
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/03/30/twitter-forces-laura-ingraham-to-remove-tweet-about-chinese-virus-treatment/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
‘Twill be embarrassing, shameful, no?
The evidence is piling up. But it will never be enough for the American medical community. They won’t accept it until it has been tested for a couple of years, when the point is already moot.
I also hope it is true, and that the good doctor is not delusional.
In all the news about HC/AZ, don’t forget the people being so innovative making ventilators and masks.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/dyson-designs-ventilator-10-days-covid-19-patients
(it’s not a vacuum cleaner, but shares some parts)
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/03/rice-university-creates-low-cost-ventilators-to-fight-coronavirus/
(hooray for the engineers at my alma mater!)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ceo-byte-orthdontics-masks-ventilator-parts-coronavirus
(just parts, but everything helps)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/coronavirus-incredible-hack-turning-scuba-21746459
(gotta say this is my favorite)
BUT don’t try this at home.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device
RTWT – it should be a Tim Conway piece on the old Carol Burnett show!
And with the Big Pharma donating so many million doses, trials will be in realtime, hopefully with no placebos.
This is very worth reading i think. Derek has always been trustworthy as far as my experience goes. It’s about the well known French studies, and is sadly not optimistic for several reasons.
https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/29/more-on-cloroquine-azithromycin-and-on-dr-raoult
Regarding Dr Zalenko, some very basic questions are unanswered, such as where did this small community doctor get access to at least half of the patients in his county?
I was deeply thrilled when I first saw the results of the first small french study, and I linked to it several times, but I’m now waiting for data from any study done with good controls and complete data.
Fingers crossed.
I saw the story earlier today but I’ve learned not to get my hopes up since it goes against the media’s narrative that we’re all going to die. My wife made the mistake of watching the first 5 minutes of the news tonight. She started wheezing and had to turn it off.
Crank up production of hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), zinc tabs, and the Z-paks, and let’s put them to work as an immediate clinical trial. To hell with randomization and double-blinded. Just gather the data as we go, as Zelenko claims he has done.
This is not toxic cancer chemotherapy! Should not take long! A couple of weeks tops.
This either works or does no harm and does not alter outcomes.
Beats the present course of shutting down the country (e.g. Virginia- until June 10!)
700 patients treated in 7 days, that’s 100 per day. He’s got to have a considerable staff to do that, plus they have to monitor them all. He’s part of an orthodox Jewish religious community so it may be possible with the community pitching in. It’s not something a sole practitioner can do. Let’s hope he’s for real.
Fred the Fourth:
He has a semi-captive pool of patients. They’re not going to go to a doctor outside their very much keep to themselves Ultra Orthodox Jewish community unless they absolutely cannot help it… and maybe not even then.
Just occasionally, being a Stiff Necked People Apart does have some big payoffs. Let’s hope this good doctor’s results stand up to scrutiny and that compelling evidence of his treatment regime’s efficacy will short-circuit Peer Review, p-Hacker Cultists in thrall to Big Pharma. One can hope.
The Governor of Michigan would yank this doc’s license. She should be recalled.
I have had more than a few bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis over the years, and Z-pak antibiotic treatments have always worked for me. Knocks out the infection very quickly. Have read many reports of the apparent success of the z-pak in combo with hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19. These drugs are fairly cheap and already widely available, aren’t they? Why would it be complicated to prescribe this combo?
Tom Maguire, who is not stupid, recounts the negative evidence. He’s gradually and reluctantly thinking the malaria/antibiotic cocktail is not going to pan out. For sure, testing should go forward. But hold your hopes close for now …
https://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2020/03/derek-lowe-on-the-latest-chloroquineazithromycin-trial-from-france.html
Supply and distribution of hydroxychloroquine may be a problem, but Z-paks are commonplace though production must also be increased greatly.
As I said above, let’s crank her up and get her going!
This combo has been talked about since late January, with some use in S. Korea as I remember. Trump needs to invoke the Emergency Powers Act to push the drugs’ production. If they don’t help, well, they will not make hardly anyone ill either.
I too hope this is not to good to be true.
As far as ‘double blind randomized’ studies go, there is precedent for jettisoning them and going ahead with widespread use. One example I am personally familiar with is Herceptin, a breast cancer drug. Early results from the trials were deemed so effective that the ‘control’ aspect was abandoned and the drug was given to everyone in the study. It was felt that to withhold treatment was tantamount to malpractice.
Cornhead:
Yet more arguments for having a doctor in a place near you who fears only his Beit Din and not some jumped up Governoress or a bunch of State and Federal officials who only know how to throw sand in the gears.
This guy also knows he will never be opportunistically sued by his patients for ‘malpractice’ — see Beit Din above.
Local / State / Federal representatives and officialdom know that they mess with the Hasidim at their peril; large voting bloc + other ‘Soft Power’.
I’m not being tongue-in-cheek either. A leavening (not a deluge, mind you) of the right kind of diversity which keeps to its own devices can be a Very Good Thing.
Being blunt about these matters because if it turns out that the doctor has saved us all a great deal of heartbreak and suffering, we will be deluged with the usual nonsensical head scratching about why it was that it came from him and not the NIH, CDC, HSPH, etc. The answer will be very simple but will necessarily be obfuscated for a bunch of reasons I think we can all work out for ourselves.
Regarding Dr Zalenko, some very basic questions are unanswered, such as where did this small community doctor get access to at least half of the patients in his county?
Dr. Zalenko is the primary car physician for much of Kiryas Joel, a densely populated enclave of Satmar chassidim about an hour north of NYC. There are about 35,000 people living in an area that’s about one square mile. He’s said that he believes about 90% of the town is infected.
As was seen in the recent measles outbreak, orthodox Jews are vulnerable to the spread of viral diseases. They travel a lot between various Jewish communities here and abroad, they regularly attend synagogue services, weddings and other family celebrations with lots of people, and it’s a very small community with few degrees of separation.
I live in the Detroit area but I’ve assumed since there was an outbreak at Young Israel of New Rochelle about a month ago that I was likely going to be exposed.
My suspicion based on my education is that the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine involves its ability to facilitate the entry of zinc into cells infected with the virus, where the zinc then acts to inactivate the RNA replicase that allows the virus to multiply.
I also suspect that this effect needs to happen early-on in the infection, long before the patients need hospitalization, when the virus is predominately in the nasopharynx. Before it reaches the lungs to any degree.
By decreasing replication in the nasopharynx, it appears that the lung problems do NOT arise.
I have no idea how azythromycin comes in to play here.
Waiting to use it until patients need hospitalization is likely inappropriate use of this modality, and explains why it fails in that setting.
I have no problem believing that once word got out in his tight community that there was a doctor willing to treat, he had 700 people come for scripts for this combo.
I hope he does have data (as in positive tests) to back up his claims as to number treated and effectiveness.
Gov Whitmer’s actions in limiting physicians from prescribing this widely available, inexpensive drug early to people willing to to accept the risks of treatment is unconscionable and indefensable. She needs smarter medical advisors than she has. “First do no harm” does not mean stop thinking, sit by and do nothing.
But it will never be enough for the American medical community. They won’t accept it until it has been tested for a couple of years, when the point is already moot.
The CDC and FDA are not “The American Medical Community” although Obama care is changing it politically. Doctors used to be small business owners and are now employees with the corresponding change in politics.
I find Lee’s suppositions valid, based on my sister-in-law’s experience.
As I already said in another post, she’s a pulmonary physicist and she’s been taking chloroquine (which variant I don’t know) for weeks, certainly as a preventive measure since she’s constantly in touch with infected people. I don’t know, however, if her patients are being cured with the same medicine.
Paolo, please direct me to that post, or post the dosage she’s following here.
Frontline physician; not interested in martyrdom.
Thank you.
Folks remarking on Zalenko’s community demographics,
Thanks, informative and confidence boosting.
Still fingers crossed.
Nothing in today’s NYTimes free corona virus Daily Briefing about Dr. Zelenko, his results, or any other therapy, just infection #s. All fear, no hope!
In a casual scan of companies that produce one or both of the two chloroquines I found: Bayer, Sandoz, Sanofi, Mylan, and Amneal. Amneal is producing it in New Jersey, and Mylan hopes to have a W. Virginia factory producing it by mid April.
Louisiana (as well as Texas and NY) are getting shipments from Amneal. The state AG is handling the transfer and in an interview struck a test-and-evaluate tone on the one hand, with LSU doing a clinical trial, and on the other hand said that frontline health care workers will receive prophylactic doses. I’ll bet the self-important politicians will get prophylactic doses too.
Hi Lee,
i tried to call my brother for some details about the dosage, but I can’t find him now.
I’ll give you the information as soon as possible.
My wife and I listened to an interview (by Rudy Guiliani) with Dr. Zalenko. He is treating some people telephonically – they provide their temperature, symptoms, time since onset, etc. He uses the antibiotics “defensively” (my term) – he finds that many people with flu-like symptoms develop secondary bacterial infections.
Bob Andrews:
Have these patients all had positive COVID tests?
Thanks for these comments about Dr. Zalenko’s practice, which lend credence to the story.
If the HC/AZ treatment works (and it certainly seems to), and if we get to the point where it can be prescribed before patients need to go to the hospital, we could really turn a corner nationally.
Related: http://nocamels.com/2020/03/israel-teva-donate-potential-coronavirus-drug/
Sorry, I have bad news: my brother Silvio has caught pneumonia, certainly from her wife Simonetta.
Silvio saw my phone call and we exchanged some messages on WhatsApp.
He wrote “sono ottimista, ma è dura, ho delle febbri assurde”, “I’m optimistic, but it’s hard, I’ve got some absurd fevers”.
I’ll call him tomorrow, tonight he’s too tired.
His daughter Erica, a young doctor herself, has completely recovered but her conditions were never alarming.
Fortunately my brother is in the best hands and he’s a strong guy. As I said, they are heroes: Simonetta is working 14/15 hours a day. My brother is the director of a center for gravely handicapped people in Cantù.
I don’t know if Silvio was taking chloroquine, or if he’s taking it now. I didn’t ask.
Re Neo’s question: “Have these patients all had positive COVID tests?”
No. He noticed that while patients presented with flu-like symptoms (influenza A or B), they also had (1) a loss of taste and smell, and (2) diarrhea. He has deep contacts at NYC hospitals, so he called and got information on patients with similar symptoms and inquired as to how they were being treated. Through his research he found a number of sources that described this treatment, and on this basis proceeded with the hydroxychloroquine, zinc and antibiotic treatment for his patients.
My prayers for Silvio and his family will begin immediately. Please let us know how he does when you can and want to.
Bob Andrews:
Then I’m sorry to say I think his results are meaningless. The number of people with flu who think they have COVID is large.
Paulo Pagliaro:
Best wishes and hopes for your brother’s speedy recovery!
Paulo, your family is in our prayers.
Dr. Ian Lipkin, prof. of epidemiology at Columbia, has been working hard to get FDA approval for treatments that utilize blood plasma extracted from recovered covid-19 patients. Just minutes ago he said that we are very close to an FDA approval.
The U.S. is 3,000+ deaths into this thing, and they are now very close to doing something obvious to treat patients. Maybe this is truly very fast and responsive, but it doesn’t feel like it.
Dr. Lipkin tested positive for covid-19 many days ago and has been taking hydroxychloroquine as prescribed by his doctor. While he was never in serious condition, he was feeling terrible and is now feeling much better. He urges controlled testing of hydroxychloroquine, so we can know its efficacy.
Thank you Sharon, Neo and Kate.
I’ve talked with my nephew Erica a couple hours ago, who said yesterday she was quite worried.
My brother’s condition is still serious, but at least fever has now disappeared.
Of course the real danger is the low oxygen saturation: his level yesterday was around 91 (normally it should be between 95 and 100). They decided not to go to the hospital because it could still be a dangerous place, even if the situation in Lombardy has improving markedly in the last few days; another reason is that, once in the hospital, he would be segregated for at least two weeks and they prefer to cure him personally (they have an oxygen tank at home).
Since my wife is slightly ill and coughs – together with two of my sons – today I took a day of holiday in order to do the family shopping (is this the correct term?) at the supermarket; on the way home I stopped at the church to pray before the Holy Sacrament: inside, there were only me and the dear Lord.
@Lee
I asked my nephew about the medicine she and her mother are taking. The medicine name is “Plaquenil”: it’s basesd on “idrossiclorochina” (Italian name) and, according to Erica, is officially and widely used in Lombardy not only to protect before the infection, but also and perhaps especially as a cure for already sick people.
The dosage is as follow (a single pill is 200mg):
– first day: four pills, for a total of 800mg
– subsequent days: 2 pills, for a daily total of 400mg
She also told me for how many days they cure usually lasts, but I forgot that detail.
I’m seeing that there’s some debate about Plaquenil also in Italy.
For instance:
https://tinyurl.com/t5v9xtn
https://tinyurl.com/rk6xqa5
Some doctors are inviting to take it only on medical prescription, mainly to avoid people running to buy it en-masse, leaving hospitals without.
It’s already impossible to find it in pharmacies, or so the newspapers say.
I think this is good news about your brother, Paolo. Thank you. With the fever gone, and support at home, we can hope he will improve soon.
In the US, Plaquenil is only available on prescription.
Related:
https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/how-an-italian-hospital-protects-its-medical-workers-from-coronavirus/
“But I sure hope it is true.”
Along with the very useful and helpful comments above, this impressive article appears to put it all together:
https://knowledgeisgood.net/2020/04/01/the-20-solution/
H/T Powerline blog
File under: Victory to the bold?