by Debra Heine
A newly released international poll has found that doctors around the world prefer using hydroxychloroquine, the drug touted by President Trump, to treat patients with the coronavirus, according to the Washington Times.
In a survey of 6,227 physicians in 30 countries, 37 percent rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” to fight the virus from a list of 15 options.
The survey, which was conducted by Sermo, a global health care polling company, also found that the most commonly prescribed treatments for COVID-19 patients are analgesics (56%), azithromycin (41%) and hydroxychloroquine (33%).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave chloroquine and its next-generation derivative, hydroxychloroquine, emergency-use authorization Monday for treating the novel coronavirus, although the drug was already being used off-label by some doctors and hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
Azithromycin, known by the brand name Zithromax or Z-Pak, was rated the second-most effective therapy at 32%, followed by “nothing,” analgesics (including acetaminophen), anti-HIV drugs and cough medicine.
Hydroxychloroquine, which is sold under the brand name Plaquenil, was prescribed mainly in the United States for the most severe cases, but not so in other countries.
“Outside the U.S., hydroxychloroquine was equally used for diagnosed patients with mild to severe symptoms whereas in the U.S. it was most commonly used for high risk diagnosed patients,” the survey found.
The survey results weren’t all good news. It also found that 63 percent of U.S. physicians believe that the epidemic’s peak is still at least 3-4 weeks away. A whopping 83 percent of global physicians believe there will be a second global outbreak, “including 90% of U.S. doctors but only 50% of physicians in China.”
As a vaccine for the virus is still a year or more away, this endorsement of the hydroxychloroquine remedy is welcome news, although several doctors in the United States have already gone on the record to spread the word about the drug’s benefits in treating COVID-19 patients.
President Trump was savaged in the media last month after he touted the “unproven” drug as a promising treatment and potential “game-changers” in the war against the coronavirus.
Like children with the oppositional defiant disorder, media critics ganged up on the president, accusing him of peddling “snake oil” and giving Americans “false hope.” Twitter at one point actually removed a tweet from Fox News host Laura Ingraham touting hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure. All because “Orange Man Bad” had promoted it.
Communications strategist Drew Holden flagged numerous tweets highlighting the media’s anti-hydroxychloroquine bias in a lengthy Twitter thread.
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Debra Heine is a regular contributor to American Greatness.
Photo “Medicine” by Charles Williams. CC BY 2.0.
