Caution and clarity required in the use of chloroquine for COVID-19

Abstract

Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website.Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre -including this research content -immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. Correspondence www.thelancet.com/rheumatology Vol 2 May 2020 e255should be meticulously reported in peer-reviewed publications to avoid potentially mis leading accounts and the risk of dangerous self-medication by the public. The rapid identification and develop ment of such novel treat ments is encouraging and will be instrumental in the battle against COVID-19, as long as prudence and rigour continue to be practised in both implementation and reporting.We declare no competing interests.

Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population

“…COVID-19 is caused by infection with a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 [1][2][3]. Efficacy of several antiviral agents such as remdesivir and chloroquine remains uncertainty [4][5][6]. Vaccine development is in urgent need to stop the pandemic.…”

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine – safety profile of potential COVID-19 drugs from the rheumatologist’s perspective

“…It was one of the first medications recommended in February 2020 by Chinese officials to treat new coronavirus infection. Initially, chloroquine phosphate was suggested to be used at a dose of 500 mg twice daily for 10 days in patients with mild, moderate, or severe pneumonia cases [5,18,19]. Precautions included blood count testing (to search for anaemia, thrombocytopenia, and leukocytopenia), serum electrolyte evaluation, as well as liver and kidney tests with routine electrocardiography due to the risk of QT…”

How to handle patients with autoimmune rheumatic and inflammatory bowel diseases in the COVID-19 era: An expert opinion

“…Which remain a major concern for patients receiving RTX, another rare but potentially fatal complication associated with RTX infusion is cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a life-threatening condition generated by uncontrolled immune activation that leads to multi-organ failure and eventually death [29]. COVID-19 can induce such a "cytokine storm" [2,[30][31][32] of over-active effector T cells and the bulk production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, thus leading to acute lung injury (ALI) and ARDS [33].…”