President Trump has touted the decades-old anti-malaria drug chloroquine and its less-toxic cousin hydroxychloroquine as promising treatments for the COVID-19 coronavirus in press briefings and on Twitter, despite warnings from top federal health officials that the drugs aren't approved to fight COVID-19 and could have harmful side effects. The publicity has led to a run on the drugs, leaving people who use it to treat lupus and arthritis unable to fill their prescriptions. There have also been deaths.
Nigeria reported two fatal overdoses of chloroquine after Trump's remarks and its Center for Disease Control pleaded with Nigerians on Friday to not self-medicate with a drug that "will cause harm and can lead to death." Closer to home, a man in Arizona died and his wife is in the hospital after they ingested a version of chloroquine phosphate meant to clean fish tanks, the woman and Banner Health said Monday. The wife told NBC News that she and her husband got the idea to self-medicate after watching Trump's news conference.
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