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Researchers at the Henry Ford Health System in Southeast Michigan have found that early administration of the drug hydroxychloroquine makes hospitalized patients substantially less likely to die. The study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, determined that hydroxychloroquine provided a "66% hazard ratio reduction," and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin a 71 percent reduction, compared to neither treatment. In-hospital mortality was 18.1 percent with both drugs, 13.5 percent with just hydroxychloroquine, 22.4 percent with azithromycin alone, and 26.4 percent with neither drug. "Prospective trials are needed" for further review, the researchers note. "Our results do differ from some other studies," Dr. Marcus Zervos, who heads the hospital's infectious dis...

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Having just managed to get its coronavirus outbreak under control, Singapore is now facing a record-breaking outbreak of a second, equally deadly virus.  Cases of dengue fever, a disease spread by infected mosquitos, are now mounting in the city-state, which has already reported 14,000 of them so far this year. Health officials now believe that number is almost certain to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, the previous-worst outbreak, by the end of the year. Singapore has seen more than 14,000 cases of dengue fever - caused by a virus spread by mosquitos - so far this year, and is on course to top the record 22,170 cases seen in 2013 Singapore managed to suppress its first wave of coronavirus, with a peak on March 28 of 138 cases. But a mu...

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But as the pandemic has continued, U.S. hospitals are reporting much lower mortality rates, results on par with death rates for patients with similar severe lung problems caused by other diseases. Experts say that’s because clinicians have become more skilled and are deploying new tactics as they learn more about the course of covid-19; some are using ventilators more selectively; many hospitals are less overwhelmed than when the virus first inundated Wuhan, parts of Italy and New York City; and early data on ventilation and death did not present a true picture. “Being on a ventilator right now in our hands is no different than it would be any day of the year,” said Greg Martin, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and president-elect of the Society of Critica...