Background: In France, the combination hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ) is used in the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: We retrospectively report on 1061 SARS-CoV-2 positive tested patients treated for at least three days with the following regimen: HCQ (200 mg three times daily for ten days) + AZ (500 mg on day 1 followed by 250 mg daily for the next four days). Outcomes were death, clinical worsening (transfer to ICU, and > 10 day hospitalization) and viral shedding persistence (> 10 days). Results: A total of 1061 patients were included in this analysis (46.4% male, mean age 43.6 yearsrange 14-95 years). Good clinical outcome and virological cure were obtained in 973 patients within 10 days (91.7%). Prolonged viral carriage was observed in 47 patients (4.4%) and was associated to a higher viral load at diagnosis (p < .001) but viral culture was negative at day 10. All but one, were PCR-cleared at day 15. A poor clinical outcome (PClinO) was observed for 46 patients (4.3%) and 8 died (0.75%) (74-95 years old). All deaths resulted from respiratory failure and not from cardiac toxicity. Five patients are still hospitalized (98.7% of patients cured so far). PClinO was associated with older age (OR 1.11), severity of illness at admission (OR 10.05) and low HCQ serum concentration. PClinO was independently associated with the use of selective betablocking agents and angiotensin II receptor blockers (p < .05). A total of 2.3% of patients reported mild adverse events (gastrointestinal or skin symptoms, headache, insomnia and transient blurred vision). Conclusion: Administration of the HCQ+AZ combination before COVID-19 complications occur is safe and associated with a very low fatality rate in patients.

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BackgroundIn July 2009, French public health authorities embarked in a mass vaccination campaign against A/H1N1 2009 pandemic-influenza. We explored the attitudes and behaviors of the general population toward pandemic vaccination.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 2,253 French representative adults aged 18 to 64 from November 17 to 25, 2009 (completion rate: 93.8%). The main outcome was the acceptability of A/H1N1 vaccination as defined by previous receipt or intention to get vaccinated (“Yes, certainly”, “Yes, probably”). Overall 17.0% (CI 95%, 15.5% to 18.7%) of respondents accepted A/H1N1 vaccination. Independent factors associated with acceptability included: male sex (p = .0001); older age (p = .002); highest or lowest level of education (p = .016); non-clerical occupation (p = .011); having only one child (p = .008); and having received seasonal flu vaccination in prior 3 years (p<.0001). Acceptability was also significantly higher among pregnant women (37.9%) and other at risk groups with chronic diseases (34.8%) (p = .002). Only 35.5% of respondents perceived A/H1N1 influenza illness as a severe disease and 12.7% had experienced A/H1N1 cases in their close relationships with higher acceptability (p<.0001 and p = .006, respectively). In comparison to 26.0% respondents who did not consult their primary care physician, acceptability was significantly higher among 8.0% respondents who were formally advised to get vaccinated, and lower among 63.7% respondents who were not advised to get vaccinated (respectively: 15.8%, 59.5% and 11.7%- p<.0001). Among respondents who refused vaccination, 71.2% expressed concerns about vaccine safety.Conclusions/SignificanceOur survey occurred one week before the peak of the pandemic in France. We found that alarming public health messages aiming at increasing the perception of risk severity were counteracted by daily personal experience which did not confirm the threat, while vaccine safety was a major issue. This dissonance may have been amplified by having not involved primary care physicians in the mass vaccination campaign.

As a whole, practising sports as an elite student-athlete can be considered as correlated negatively with cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use. Nevertheless, this relationship depends on the kind of sport practised as well as the level of competition, and further research is needed to understand specific elite athletes' motives for use.