Very few things in our body work in isolation. For example, calcium needs (at least) magnesium, vitamin D, and vitamin K2 to obtain balance. Old data and new data show that hydroxychloroquine is anti-viral by opening up a pathway for zinc to get inside cells. It's the zinc that stops the viral replication pathway.
Naturalhealth365.com (Jonathan Landsman) published a compelling article on hydroxychloroquine and zinc. Here are some key excerpts:
Don’t write off hydroxychloroquine just yet, doctors plead – this trace mineral needs to be included for the drug to work
Currently, the data on hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment is not a slam dunk.
For example, one small French study found no beneficial effects of hydroxychloroquine plus Z-pack in 11 COVID-19 patients. However, the majority of these patients had significant comorbidities (including obesity, cancer, and HIV) and there was no mention if zinc was included in the intervention.
But other studies, including a randomized controlled trial out of China involving 62 patients as well as a study from Dr. Raoult and his team involving 1,061 patients suggest that this COVID-19 treatment is both safe and effective (neither of these studies have been peer-reviewed yet). The French team actually reported a 91 percent success rate (meaning the virus was undetectable in 973 patients within 10 days).
And in an April 6 interview with Southern California-based KABC-TV, Dr. Anthony Cardillo, CEO of Mend Urgent Care in Sherman Oaks, says hydroxychloroquine “really only works in conjunction with zinc.” He says this is because hydroxychloroquine opens up a channel in infected cells through which zinc can enter and block viral replication. (His statement is corroborated by 2010 research published in PLOS Pathology which showed that zinc inhibits the replication of SARS-coronavirus, at least in cell culture samples.)
Meanwhile, Dr. Cardillo says he is prescribing zinc plus hydroxychloroquine to good effect. “Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free.”
Dr. Cardillo advises that this COVID-19 treatment be reserved for people who are already very sick, in order to preserve supplies for people who are already currently taking hydroxychloroquine for other conditions, including those previously mentioned (RA and SLE).
Want to boost your body’s own stores of zinc now? The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is 8 milligrams per day for women and 11 mg per day for men. In addition, you can find this essential mineral in foods like wild rice, peas, pecans, oysters, beans, and yogurt.
Sources for this article include:
Techstartups.com Clinicaltrials.gov Healthline.com Sciencemag.org Medicalnewstoday.com Sciencedirect.com Medrxiv.org Mediterranee-infection.com Swarajyamag.com NIH.gov
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