The very eminent journal "Nature" has just published the results of a preclinical study carried out on monkeys. Contrary to what Professor Didier Raoult asserts, this study shows that hydroxychloroquine does not make it possible to treat Covid-19.

A new study has been published on chloroquine. And its result is clear: hydroxychloroquine would not be as effective against Covid-19 as Professor Didier Raoult has affirmed for long seamines. The study, launched last February, was published in the very prestigious journal Nature following the results of a pre-clinical study carried out on monkeys.

Not effective, whether or not coupled with antibiotics

This study shows that in the macaque - comparable to humans in terms of coronavirus infection - the treatment does not work. Scientists therefore ensured that the treatment was equivalent in monkeys and humans and that they reached the same concentrations. Result: hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in preventing the disease during, and even a few days after, and this, whether or not coupled with azithromycin (an antibiotic). In all three situations, therefore. 

So what are the effective treatments today? "Dexamethasone", recalls Doctor Jimmy Mohamed, in his column Health Question , Monday on Europe 1. Relative effectiveness, he says. This is because these corticosteroids are given at an advanced stage of the disease in severe patients who need oxygen. Be careful, however, dexamethasone is not taken in prevention of the disease, or if, although declared, the disease is at a moderate stage.

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Wearing a mask, the only effective treatment

If the ideal would obviously be to have a vaccine, we must not forget that research generally takes ten to twenty years to find a vaccine. Also, although scientists are on a war footing, having a vaccine in two years would be a miracle, says Jimmy Mohamed.

As for Remdesivir, it does not work. Other treatments can be promising, in particular those which aim to fight against the cytokine storm [excessive immune reaction, editor's note], but for the moment, the only effective treatment, it is the wearing of the mask in the closed places, and respect for social distancing.