Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now spreading as a pandemic ravaging the whole world. In the absence of a vaccine and an effective antiviral chemotherapy, there is currently an intense global interest in repositioning chloroquine (CQ) and its derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to combat the pandemic. CQ has been used for decades for the treatment and prophylaxis against malaria in endemic countries. It is readily available and has also been manufactured in these countries. CQ is cheap, stable under field conditions and has been well tolerated as an antimalarial. This experience could be adapted to deploy CQ or HCQ for prophylaxis or treatment of COVID19 if strong evidence could be generated for these uses. We believe that well-designed drug trials should be initiated in malaria-endemic countries, taking into account the local context of the epidemic and the capacity of the health system in combating it. In this paper, we are presenting the current status of evidence for using CQ and HCQ against COVID19.
Key words: Coronavirus disease 2019; COVID-19; Treatment; Prophylaxis; Chloroquine; Hydroxychloroquine; Malaria.
|
