05-19-2020, 11:49 PM
Doctors around the globe report that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine seems the most effective treatment they've tried for coronavirus patients - but less than half as many doctors are prescribing it in the US as in other hard-hit countries like Spain.
A survey of 6,200 doctors around the globe reveals that while few corners of the world are untouched by the virus, the pandemic is being handled very differently from country-to-country.
And in some measures, the US continues to fall behind other nations' responses.
For example, an American waits an average of four to five days to get results back after being tested for COVID-19. Half of doctors in Europe and most in China get the test results back within 24-hours.
Dr Murali Doraiswamy, an adviser to Sermo, urged that countries should take note of what is working for doctors and governments elsewhere and move quickly to adopt practices that are saving lives.
Hydroxychloroquine (pictured) was deemed the most effective coronavirus treatment comared to other options by more doctors worldwide than any other in a global survey
Hydroxychloroquine (pictured) was deemed the most effective coronavirus treatment comared to other options by more doctors worldwide than any other in a global survey
HOW ARE DOCTORS AROUND THE WORLD TREATING CORONAVIRUS?
Doctors and governments spanning the globe are scrambling to test and development treatments for coronavirus.
While most nation's have issued guidance for doctors to standardize care for coronavirus patients, there are no clinically proven treatments for the devastating infection that has killed more than 55,000 people worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a multinational trial of several treatments, including hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, a drug developed to treat Ebola, taking place in countries including Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand.
The US is not included in the WHO trial but, like many other nations, is running its own clinical tests of both of those drugs.
Hydroxychloroquine trials have begun in states like New York, Minnesota and Washington, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the drug emergency use authorization on Sunday for doctors to prescribe to adult and teen patients if clinical trials aren't available.
Rapid tests were among the needs cited by doctors around the world and in the US, getting test results takes between four and five days - far longer than in most countries
Rapid tests were among the needs cited by doctors around the world and in the US, getting test results takes between four and five days - far longer than in most countries
With that shift, the drug should be more widely available and prescribed in the US, but as of the Sermo survey, just 23 percent of US doctors reported giving it to COVID-19 patients, lagging far behind many other countries.
In Italy, nearly half of all doctors reported prescribing the drug, which is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
More than 70 percent of Spanish doctors are giving the drug to coronavirus patients, as are 41 percent in Brazil, 39 percent in Mexico and 28 percent in France.
However, it's used even less commonly in Germany (17 percent), Canada (16 percent), the UK (13 percent) and Japan (seven percent).
Globally, painkillers are still the category of drugs most often given to coronavirus patients, followed by the antibiotic azithromycin, which is sometimes given in combination with hydroxychloroquine, the third-most-prescribed drug.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...tment.html
A survey of 6,200 doctors around the globe reveals that while few corners of the world are untouched by the virus, the pandemic is being handled very differently from country-to-country.
And in some measures, the US continues to fall behind other nations' responses.
For example, an American waits an average of four to five days to get results back after being tested for COVID-19. Half of doctors in Europe and most in China get the test results back within 24-hours.
Dr Murali Doraiswamy, an adviser to Sermo, urged that countries should take note of what is working for doctors and governments elsewhere and move quickly to adopt practices that are saving lives.
Hydroxychloroquine (pictured) was deemed the most effective coronavirus treatment comared to other options by more doctors worldwide than any other in a global survey
Hydroxychloroquine (pictured) was deemed the most effective coronavirus treatment comared to other options by more doctors worldwide than any other in a global survey
HOW ARE DOCTORS AROUND THE WORLD TREATING CORONAVIRUS?
Doctors and governments spanning the globe are scrambling to test and development treatments for coronavirus.
While most nation's have issued guidance for doctors to standardize care for coronavirus patients, there are no clinically proven treatments for the devastating infection that has killed more than 55,000 people worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a multinational trial of several treatments, including hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, a drug developed to treat Ebola, taking place in countries including Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand.
The US is not included in the WHO trial but, like many other nations, is running its own clinical tests of both of those drugs.
Hydroxychloroquine trials have begun in states like New York, Minnesota and Washington, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the drug emergency use authorization on Sunday for doctors to prescribe to adult and teen patients if clinical trials aren't available.
Rapid tests were among the needs cited by doctors around the world and in the US, getting test results takes between four and five days - far longer than in most countries
Rapid tests were among the needs cited by doctors around the world and in the US, getting test results takes between four and five days - far longer than in most countries
With that shift, the drug should be more widely available and prescribed in the US, but as of the Sermo survey, just 23 percent of US doctors reported giving it to COVID-19 patients, lagging far behind many other countries.
In Italy, nearly half of all doctors reported prescribing the drug, which is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
More than 70 percent of Spanish doctors are giving the drug to coronavirus patients, as are 41 percent in Brazil, 39 percent in Mexico and 28 percent in France.
However, it's used even less commonly in Germany (17 percent), Canada (16 percent), the UK (13 percent) and Japan (seven percent).
Globally, painkillers are still the category of drugs most often given to coronavirus patients, followed by the antibiotic azithromycin, which is sometimes given in combination with hydroxychloroquine, the third-most-prescribed drug.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...tment.html