Early Hydroxychloroquine Administration for Rapid Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Eradication

Kyung Soo Hong; Jong Geol Jang; Jian Hur; Jong Ho Lee; Hong Nam Kim; Wonhwa Lee; June Hong Ahn

doi:10.3947/ic.2020.52.3.396

Early Hydroxychloroquine Administration for Rapid Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Eradication

Infect Chemother. 2020 Sep;52(3):396-402. doi: 10.3947/ic.2020.52.3.396. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

Authors

Kyung Soo Hong¹, Jong Geol Jang¹, Jian Hur², Jong Ho Lee³, Hong Nam Kim^#⁴, Wonhwa Lee^#⁵, June Hong Ahn^#⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pulmonology and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University and Regional Center for Respiratory Diseases, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.
² Division of Infection, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.
⁴ Center for BioMicrosystems, Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, Korea. [email protected].
⁵ Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon, Korea. [email protected].
⁶ Division of Pulmonology and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University and Regional Center for Respiratory Diseases, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea. [email protected].

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

There are no proven therapeutics for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia outbreak. We observed and analyzed the clinical efficacy of the most used hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for 30 days. In this study, administration of HCQ <5 days from diagnosis (odds ratio: 0.111, 95% confidence interval: 0.034 - 0.367, P = 0.001) was the only protective factor for prolonging of viral shedding in COVID-19 patients. Early administration of HCQ significantly ameliorates inflammatory cytokine secretion by eradicating COVID-19, at discharge. Our findings suggest that patients confirmed of COVID-19 infection should be administrated HCQ as soon as possible.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019; Early; Eradication; Hydroxychloroquine.

Abstract

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