Untested Covid Treatment Trump Talks Up Can Have Fatal Side Effect, Cardiologists Warn
AN EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT for Covid-19 championed by President Donald Trump in which patients are given doses of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria and lupus, along with the antibiotic azithromycin raises the risk for some patients of dangerous irregular heartbeats that could be fatal, cardiologists warn in new guidance published by the American College of Cardiology.
According to the lead author of the paper, Dr. Eric Stecker, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, any patients treated with the combination therapy should be monitored for ventricular arrhythmia, the irregular beating of the hearts lower chambers, which can lead to cardiac arrest. We dont know the magnitude of the risk, Stecker said in an interview on Sunday, but both drugs can raise the odds of irregular heartbeats for some patients, and the risk is greater when they are taken together.
The president has repeatedly dismissed warnings from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, that the drugs might not be as safe or effective for people infected with the new coronavirus as they are for other illnesses. On Saturday, at a White House briefing on the global pandemic, Trump urged Americans to try hydroxychloroquine and suggested that people infected with the virus had nothing to lose by taking it, as long as their doctors agree.
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https://theintercept.com/2020/04/06/drug-treatment-trump-talks-covid-can-fatal-side-effect-cardiologists-warn/