At least two cases of chloroquine poisoning in Nigeria after Trump touts drug to treat COVID-19

At least two Nigerians are in hospital after being poisoned by an unproven drug that U.S. President Donald Trump is touting as a possible cure for the novel coronavirus.

Nigerian health authorities are rushing to clamp down on a wave of unauthorized use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that Mr. Trump is promoting as a treatment for COVID-19.

This weekend, Mr. Trump continued to praise the drug, tweeting on Saturday that it had “a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.” He also lauded it at several press conferences last week.

But the safety and effectiveness of the drug – widely known as chloroquine – is unproven for use against the coronavirus, and it can be dangerous if used without medical supervision. It is being studied in small clinical trials, and has reportedly shown some promise, but regulatory agencies have not authorized it for broader use.

In countries such as Nigeria, chloroquine tablets are easily available at pharmacies and other shops, without any need for a prescription, even though chloroquine was banned in 2005 after malaria became resistant to the drug.

Mr. Trump is more popular in Nigeria than anywhere else in Africa, and his praise of chloroquine led to a surge of purchases of the drug in Lagos and other Nigerian cities. Some shops and pharmacies were quickly sold out.

When some Nigerians began to self-administer the drug at dangerous doses, at least two people needed hospital treatment for poisoning, authorities said on the weekend.

“Please DO NOT engage in self-medication,” the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control said in a tweet. “This will cause harm and can lead to death.”

It noted that the World Health Organization has not approved the use of chloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus.

Dr. Oreolowah Finnih, a senior assistant to the Lagos State governor on health issues, said hospitals across the state “have started receiving patients suffering from chloroquine poisoning.” In a tweet, she urged Nigerians to refrain from “massive consumption” of the drug.

Until last week, Nigeria had only three confirmed cases of the coronavirus. But the number of confirmed cases has surged to 30 in the past five days.

The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stood beside Mr. Trump at a televised press conference on Friday and contradicted the president’s claims. Asked by a reporter whether there was any clear evidence of chloroquine’s effectiveness against the coronavirus, Dr. Fauci said: “No.”

He added: “The information that you’re referring to specifically is anecdotal. It was not done in a controlled clinical trial, so you really can’t make any definitive statement about it.”