An international team of doctors and researchers recently responded to a preprint study on the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019). The response identifies multiple issues with the study’s design and data. One of the co-authors of the response is the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Dr Kate Webb.
Webb is a paediatric rheumatologist in UCT’s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and the second academic from the university to be selected for the prestigious Crick African Network’s African Career Accelerator awards. She is also UCT’s regional lead in the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance, which brings together people with pre-existing rheumatic diseases, like lupus and arthritis, and the doctors who look after them.
The response she helped to compile is titled “A rush to judgment? Rapid reporting and dissemination of results and its consequences regarding the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19”.
The study reported that hydroxychloroquine, a medication used to treat lupus, was useful in the treatment of COVID-19. According to the study, people with COVID-19 who had received chloroquine and azathioprine cleared the virus more quickly than people who did not.
Read the full story from the University of Cape Town.
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