For those considering the drug chloroquine as a potential treatment for a COVID-19 infection, Dr. Nancy Nielsen offers emphatic advice: "I can't stress enough, please don't try to play doctor on this one." In a weekly segment with WBFO, Nielsen, Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, warned of the side effects of the drug. She also assailed some healthcare professionals regarding their approach to chloroquine. "Doctors and dentists who are hoarding this medicine for themselves and their families are behaving unconscionably."
Taking questions emailed from WBFO listeners, Nielsen addressed the pressure the pandemic is placing on the state's fractured hospital system, the efficacy of quick testing for COVID-19 and the potential of contracting the virus from various materials.
The subject of chloroquine, however, drew unequivocal responses.
"Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are really critical drugs for people with conditions like Lupus. And it's in short supply because people are not behaving responsibly."
Nielsen reminds those who have been prescribed the drug to be aware of the potential side effects.
"The one that is really, very important is that there are cardiac effects for people who have certain EKG abnormalities."
Nielsen cited the story of a couple who possessed the medicine for another malady. Upon taking it, presumably to fight off the coronavirus, both were hospitalized. While the wife recovered, the husband died.
"One has to be careful that we don't become foolish and that we don't become so selfish that we endanger other people."
