Thread by @fascinatorfun

Hydroxychloroquine & Trump.

A story as old as medicine itself. When an epidemic killed thousands in Ancient Rome the chief physician of the emperor Nero circulated a recipe for an old miracle cure: Aaron Shakow, research assoc at Harvard Medical School,
theguardian.com/world/2020/apr…

““It was an attempt by Nero to sustain his legitimacy in the midst of this catastrophic event,” Shakow said.

Epidemics are unkind to rulers.

“100% cure against Coronavirus” said a lawyer claiming an affiliation with Stanford Law School (the latter will be shuddering at the thought)

No. No. Decidedly not.

This is the gold standard. In these emergency times it isn’t possible to adhere religiously to all..BUT..

The French hydroxychloroquine study did not follow any of these rules..

It was a bit of a shocker.

And plays with people’s hopes and lives in the most cynical way possible.

This is how an experiment in which 15% of the treatment group and 0% of the control had poor clinical outcomes could end up being reported as showing a “100% cure rate”.

How has it attracted the hype that it has?

Promoted by people who can make money from it.

Other treatments were also garnering interest.

Hang on.

Hang on. Haven’t I seen that name Raoult before?

Yes. Yes, we have. hydroxychloriquine

Lots of promotion. Lots of hype, helped along by Facebook and SM posts.

Here’s that lawyer again. Rigano, promoted by Fox News.

I beg you. Be careful what you share, even when it has been pumped up by people with qualifications who should know better.

Then Elon Musk who should definitely know better weighed in.

Big names should know better

(yes, Amanda Holden and 5G. You too).

The it becomes political. TRUUUUUUUMP.

Big tip. If 80% test +ve recover it looks as if they would anyway

Look carefully for who are excluded from the study. Those who are risky for failure? Yes. Well.

Think before you post.

Journalists who should know better (& of whom I have thought better) can’t even be arsed to read articles with misleading headlines yet post them out as if the headline reflects the article content. When it doesn’t.

There are a few drugs where EARLY use MAY bring benefits (but not so much when delayed) .

That means we have to have early, reliable testing to ensure early intervention.

But big names can tilt how people spend their money and throw away their hopes.

Including Presidents.

So enforcement actions on the internet cannot wipe out the fake news promoted by high profile public figures especially when promoted by the press.

Look (in aa good way) at President Ford and a flu shot.

As for Trump saying “What do we have to lose?”

Only a life or too.

“I’m not a doctor” he throws in to exempt himself from consequences.

Don’t be Trump.