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In Sweden, several hospitals have given chloroquine - malaria medication - to corona patients.
But now some have stopped doing this, after reports of severe side effects.
One of those affected is Carl Sydenhag, 40.
- I had no peripheral vision and got cramps, says Carl Sydenhag.
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In the USA, for example, chloroquine, malaria medicine, has been highlighted as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus. President Donald Trump has argued that chloroquine is a possible "game changer". In France, corona patients have been treated with the drug and believed that several of them became healthy after six days of treatment, La Provence writes .
Also in Sweden patients with covid-19 disease have been treated with malaria medicine. Carl Sydenhag, 40, from Stockholm, is one of the people who received chloroquine.
On March 23, Carl Sydenhag tested positive for the corona virus after having a fever and breathing difficulties. At Södersjukhuset in Stockholm he received antibiotics intravenously and chloroquine.
- I was prescribed to take two tablets in the morning and two in the evening, says Carl Sydenhag.
But instead of getting better, he began to feel worse.
- I got cramps and a headache that I have never had before. It felt like I had stepped into a high voltage plant.
Affected vision
Carl Sydenhag says that his vision was also affected and that his peripheral vision was reduced. He then decided to read the package leaflet and saw that the side effects he experienced usually occurred in one in 100 taking the medication.
- Then I called the Poison Information Center that said the dose I had been given was dangerous, so I stopped taking the tablets and went to the hospital again.
Once at the hospital, doctors thought that Carl probably received an excessive dose of the medication.
Today, he no longer has any symptoms for covid-19, but thinks that his vision is still worse than usual and that he still feels dizzy.
- But I feel much better than I did before. It may have been that the malaria medicine helped against the corona and I am very grateful for that, but you have to dose correctly, says Carl Sydenhag.
Has stopped giving chloroquine
Chloroquine has been given to covid-19 in several hospitals in Sweden. But last week, all hospitals in the Västra Götaland region stopped medicine.
- There were reports of suspected more serious side effects than we first thought. We cannot rule out serious side effects, especially from the heart, and it is a hard-dosed drug. In addition, we have no strong evidence that chloroquine has an effect at covid-19, ”says Magnus Gisslén, professor and chief physician at the infection clinic at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, to the Gothenburg Post .
The Southern Hospital in Stockholm, where Carl Sydenhag received chloroquine prints for covid-19, has also decided to stop giving malaria medicine to corona patients, according to the Gothenburg Post.
In an email to Expressen, Hedvig Glans, section manager of the infection unit at Karolinska University Hospital, writes that chloroquine was given to the more oxygen-demanding corona patients and that a thorough investigation was done before the drug was used.
Furthermore, Hedvig Glans writes that the use of chloroquine has decreased.
"By following developments, the scientific compilations and studies in progress, the use of chloroquine phosphate is being re-evaluated daily, and this has currently been greatly reduced and is not used routinely." , writes Hedvig Glans.
There is the translation for you
Great. So the tweet was misleading