Don’t try and cure Covid-19 on your own.
Berlin – A new study has found that higher numbers of people
are taking interest in untried and possibly dangerous therapies to
treat the novel coronavirus after they were recommended by
high-profile US public figures.
In the United States, researchers for JAMA Internal Medicine, a
medical journal, noted an enormous increase in the number of Google
searches for two malaria drugs after they were recommended as
possible virus remedies, first by Tesla founder Elon Musk and then by
US President Donald Trump.
Searches by people looking where they could buy chloroquine increased
by 442 per cent, while queries about hydroxychloroquine rose by 1,389
per cent, said the team led by Michael Liu of Oxford University in
Britain.
Interest among Google users in both substances remained higher than
average even after the death of a man by chloroquine poisoning was
reported.
Maybe worth considering chloroquine for C19https://t.co/LEYob7Jofr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)March 16, 2020
“Endorsements can lead to unsupervised use of the products with
dangerous consequences to the people who take them, and hoarding of
these medications can result in shortages for those who require them
for legitimate health reasons,” the authors said.
“In times of public health crises, demand for unproven and
potentially hazardous Covid-19 treatments is massively increased by
endorsements,” they wrote, adding, “Public health leaders, regulatory
agencies, media, and retailers must amplify accurate information.”
The World Health Organization has warned people against trying to
treat the virus with substances whose effectiveness has yet to be
proved.
A study released recently from the United States showed that patients
suffering from the respiratory disease Covid-19 who took
hydroxychloroquine had a higher death rate than a control group.
dpa