Wednesday 30 / October / 2024
Baltimore: A group of scientists in the US found out 15 years ago that chloroquine drugs, which were recently used to treat COVID-19, were in fact effective at stopping the spread and infection of the coronavirus strain of microorganisms.
The discovery was made when researchers and doctors were looking for ways to stop the spread of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which is also caused by a strain of the coronavirus.
The results were published in the Virology Journal and were discovered by scientists from the National Institutes of Health, which has its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases currently headed by Dr Anthony Fauci. Eight researchers were credited with its discovery: Martin Vincent, Eric Bergeron, Suzanne Banjannet, Bobbie Erickson, Pierre Rollin, Thomas Ksiazek, Nabil Seidah and Stuart Nichol.
“Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a newly discovered coronavirus (SARS-CoV). No effective prophylactic or post-exposure therapy is currently available,” they wrote. “We report, however, that chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells. These inhibitory effects are observed when the cells are treated with the drug either before or after exposure to the virus, suggesting both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage.”
“Chloroquine is effective in preventing the spread of SARS CoV in cell culture,” read the conclusion put forward by the scientists. “Favourable inhibition of virus spread was observed when the cells were either treated with chloroquine prior to or after SARS CoV infection. In addition, the indirect immunofluorescence assay described herein represents a simple and rapid method for screening SARS-CoV antiviral compounds.”
