São Paulo: Woman Dies After Taking Chloroquine, Antibiotics and Antiviral

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – A 53-year-old woman suspected of being infected with Covid-19 died four days after beginning treatment with chloroquine, an antibiotic and an antiviral (azithromycin and tamiflu) in a São Paulo hospital.

Eliane Aparecida Gardin de Andrade died in the early hours of Thursday, April 10th. The details of her case were announced on Saturday by a Folha de S. Paulo columnist, Mônica Bergamo.

The woman’s death certificate states that the cause of death was Covid-19, but according to the columnist, who obtained the data from a relative, the autopsy results have not yet been released.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced in late March that 3.4 million units of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine would be made available for doctors to use in the treatment of patients hospitalized in a severe condition with Covid-19, São Paulo being one of the states to include the drug in the treatment protocol.

The victim turned to the Sancta Maggiore Hospital in Santana, in the northern part of the city of São Paulo, because she was vomiting and was prescribed medication for her stomach. While vomiting continued, she returned to the hospital. This time, a seven-day treatment with chloroquine, azithromycin and tamiflu was initiated and she was sent home.

The doctor in charge of the case is said to have called the patient after a few days and she said she was better [so he] advised her to stop the medication. However, on Thursday, April 8th, she started feeling severe pain in her right leg and eventually lost consciousness at home. At dawn on April 9th, she felt unwell and again lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital.

The hospital management, the Prevent Senior private health network, states that “categorically, it is not possible to state or associate treatment” with cause of death. “The patient had been without medication for six days. Any inference is reckless and malicious.”.

The family maintains that the death was hastened by a potential side effect of chloroquine, as she had been well a few days before the pain in her leg began.

Hydroxychloroquine, like chloroquine, is used in the treatment of malaria. The two drugs have been pointed out as potential ways of preventing and treating infections by the novel coronavirus, but with no proven results yet. In fact, the European Medicines Agency has already issued a statement stressing that the two should only be used in the context of Covid-19 in the event of a clinical study or emerging and monitored use for research purposes.