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#15,131
There are tragic, but predictable, reports overnight of an Arizona couple who ingested lethal amounts of an aquarium cleaner - whose active ingredient is Chloroquine Phosphate - in an attempt to self-medicate against COVID-19. The husband has died, and the wife remains hospitalized in critical condition.
It isn't immediately apparent if either victim was infected with the virus - or if they were taking it prophylactically - or for that matter, what dose they consumed.Although the base ingredient of the aquarium cleaner is Chloroquine phosphate, this is an industrial product, not a pharmaceutical grade medication. Non-lethal dosing - which falls in a fairly narrow range with Chloroquine - would be difficult as this product is often sold as a powder, making the risks of ingesting it far greater than any rewards.
As I wrote yesterday, in CDC: Therapeutic Options for COVID-19 Patients For Clinicians, Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are not without potential serious side effects - including cardiac arrhythmias - and the addition of azithromycin may potentially exacerbate those risks.
And so far, while early reports are promising, the jury is still out over their impact on COVID-19, and what dose is both safe and effective.While clearly labeled `Not For Human Consumption' - ever since news of a possible Chloroquine treatment for COVID-19 was first announced - many sellers of Chloroquine based aquarium cleaners have sold out their stocks at exorbitant prices to worried preppers.
I'm aware that many preppers buy and stockpile fish antibiotics for their disaster kits, and while this is touted as a reasonably safe alternative by a number of survival medicine guides, if you don't have the proper medical training you will almost certainly have a fool for a doctor.It is probably inevitable that during a pandemic, when there are no known treatments or prophylactics to the virus, people will clutch at straws. Numerous internet websites have sprung up selling bogus cures and homeopathy potions, fake vaccines, and all sorts of dubious protective equipment against COVID-19 (see FDA Alerts Consumers About Unauthorized Fraudulent COVID-19 Test Kits).
They wouldn't be doing that if there wasn't a market for it.Some of these remedies may be harmless, albeit ineffective, rip offs. They may, however, promote risky behavior by those using them, as they might wrongly believe they are protected. Others, like ingesting aquarium cleaner, can be fatal.
Hopefully the thousands of people who have purchased Chloroquine-based aquarium cleaner over the past few weeks will ditch any thoughts of using it medicinally.
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