In the Corona-crisis, the demand for untried and possibly even dangerous drugs is rising, according to a study, as soon as they are recommended by prominent people.
It can be dangerous, is evident on the example of Donald Trump and Tesla chief Elon Musk.
Both declared a malaria drug to miracle cure.
In advance of the US President praised the disinfectant to combat the novel Coronavirus.
Drug demand rose rapidly
In the United States, the number of Google has increased searches after two malaria drugs in the March immensely, after only Tesla chief Elon Musk, and then US President, Donald Trump had it advertised as a may be effective against the Coronavirus, researchers report in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine‘.
Searches for buying opportunities of the active substance chloroquine jumped by 442 percent in the amount, requests for hydroxychloroquine even to 1389 percent, writes the Team led by first author Michael Liu of the University of Oxford.
The interest of Google users on the two resources, therefore, was still above average after the end of March had become known to a first chloroquine poisoning case.
“The present analysis suggests that the demand for untested and potentially risky Covid-19-treatments in times of crises of health care rising as a result of advertising massive,” writes the Team, in which many of US researchers were involved in the study.
“Therapies that are not supported by sufficient evidence, ( … ), should not be used by persons of public life promoted.”
Non-approved medications are life-threatening
The Apply of such drugs could lead “to the unattended application, with dangerous consequences for the people they occupy,” it States.
In addition, it could happen that the funds would be hoarded and then missing that you really needed.
The world health organization has already warned of the end of March against drugs against the Coronavirus, for which the efficacy has not been proven.
In a few days ago presented US study Covid-19-patients had received, the hydroxy-chloroquine, a higher mortality rate than the comparison group.
Sources
- M. Liu, (2020): Internet Searches for Unproven COVID-19 Therapies in the United States, retrieved on 30.04.2020: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2765361?guestAccessKey=c854f2de-a8f2-4a21-90e5-71e80089f75e&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=042920
- nbc-news-report chloroquine-death case (2020): You retrieved this after taking chloroquine in an attempt to prevent coronavirus, the 30.04.2020: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/man-dies-after-ingesting-chloroquine-attempt-prevent-coronavirus-n1167166?fbclid=IwAR0rTc5PRtdqd_nLr0x7DW6OTPvnnMbfpxBrus-VHJOqMDJOUL-AdrPUwbA
- J. Magagnoli, p. Narendran, F. Pereira, T. Cummings, J. W. Hardin, S. Sutton, J. Ambati (2020): Outcomes of hydroxychloroquine usage in United States veterans hospitalized with Covid-19, retrieved on 30.04.2020: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.16.20065920v1.full.pdf
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
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