Role of Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine in the Treatment of COVID-19 Infection- A Systematic Literature Review

Krishan Mohan Kapoor; Aanandita Kapoor

There are some mild side effects of CQ while treating malaria, including headache, dizziness, loss of appetite, etc. The primary adverse reaction of CQ at higher doses is ocular toxicity, which could affect the vision. If the discomfort in the eye or visual abnormality occurs, CQ should be discontinued immediately. Other side effects of CQ include cardiac arrhythmia, drug-induced psychosis, leukopenia, etc. Combining CQ with heparin could increase the risk of bleeding. In patients taking Digitalis, CQ could cause a cardiac block. 13 For decades, most Europeans visiting malaria-endemic areas have been receiving chloroquine prophylaxis, and they would continue it for two months after their return. The use of CQ for the treatment of malaria has also been in use for long, and HCQ has been used at much higher doses of up to 600 mg/day to treat autoimmune diseases. It is quite difficult to find a product having a betterestablished safety profile than CQ at such a low cost. 10 CQ, and its derivatives have shown early promise to treat COVID-19 infection and should be explored as a potential drug in the preventive and therapeutic role to turn the tide in this rapidly evolving pandemic. 25 Disorderly clinical trials of All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.