My husband and I tried to take Trump’s coronavirus drug – now he is dead: Wife speaks out after they drank fish tank cleaner chloroquine because they mistook it for unproven treatment hydroxychlorquine
- The couple, both in their 60s and from Arizona, were hospitalized after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, an additive often used at aquariums to clean fish tanks
- The man died and his wife was left in critical condition as a result
- It’s believed that they confused the chemical with hydroxychloroquine, an antimalaria drug that’s shown promising results in treating coronavirus patients
- ‘We were afraid we were getting sick. We were getting really worried,’ she said
- They had been self isolating before taking a teaspoon of the chemical with soda
- Trump drummed up hype over hydroxychloroquine calling it a ‘game changer’
- But the drug has not yet been proven as effective in treating coronavirus
- ‘Trump kept saying it was pretty much a cure’, the unidentified wife said Monday
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
A woman has spoken out after she and her husband both drank a fish tank cleaner called chloroquine – thinking it was the potential coronavirus treatment called hydroxychloroquine that Donald Trump has promoted at his press conferences – and her husband died.
The unidentified woman and her husband, both in their 60s, ingested chloroquine phosphate, confusing it with hydroxychloroquine, an antimalaria drug that’s shown promising results in treating COVID-19 patients.
Her husband died and she was left in critical condition after drinking the chemical.
The woman told NBC: ‘We were afraid we were getting sick. We were getting really worried.’ She said they had been self isolating before each taking a teaspoon of the toxic chemical with soda.
She added: ‘We saw his [Trump’s] press conference. It was on a lot, actually. Trump kept saying it was pretty much a cure.
Referring to hydroxychloroquine she said: ‘They kept saying that it was approved for other things.’
A man has died and his wife is under critical care after they ingested chloroquine phosphate, a chemical found commonly found in fish tank cleaner, thinking it was the miracle coronavirus cure President Donald Trump has been touting at his press conferences
The woman, who had chloroquine phosphate in the house because she kept koi fish, added: ‘I was in the pantry and i saw it sitting on the back shelf and I said “hey isn’t that stuff they were talking about on tv”.
Explaining how they both fell ill within minutes, becoming dizzy and hot, she warned: ‘He got so bad so fast. Don’t take anything. Don’t believe anything that the president says and his people, be so careful. Call your doctor.
‘I was holding his hand. He died while they were working on him in ER.
‘This is a heartache i will never get over. My husband was my whole life, it feels like, like my heart is broken & it’ll never mend. It’s just broke. Dead.
‘Like my husband. Please educate the people.’
President Donald Trump touted chloroquine as a ‘miracle drug’ at a press conference last week, but Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus expert, quickly followed Trump’s comments by saying more work was needed before it could be heralded as a solution
‘Given the uncertainty around COVID-19, we understand that people are trying to find new ways to prevent or treat this virus, but self-medicating is not the way to do so,’ said Dr Daniel Brooks, Banner Poison and Drug Information Center medical director.
‘The last thing that we want right now is to inundate our emergency departments with patients who believe they found a vague and risky solution that could potentially jeopardize their health.’
Experts noted that the majority of people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus would recover without complications, and that ‘the routine use of specific treatments, including medications described as “anti-COVID-19”, is not recommended for non-hospitalized patients’.
‘We are strongly urging the medical community to not prescribe this medication to any non-hospitalized patients,’ Brooks said.
New York state officials are expected to begin trials with hydroxychloroquine on Tuesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced at a press conference Monday (pictured)
Hydroxychloroquine has not yet been proven as effective in battling COVID-19, but President Trump drummed up excitement over it when he called it a ‘game changer’ last week.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus expert, quickly followed Trump’s comments by saying more work was needed before it could be heralded as a solution.
New York state officials are expected to begin trials with the medication on Tuesday, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Meanwhile, many people across the US have praised the drug and credited it with saving their lives – albeit after they were prescribed it by doctors.
