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Review
. 2020 Oct-Dec:15:100587.
doi: 10.1016/j.jemep.2020.100587. Epub 2020 Aug 27.

Hydroxy-chloroquine to treat COVID-19 - infected patients: Some lessons from medical anthropology and history of medicine

P Charlier  1   2 , S Donell  3 , D Lippi  2   4 , A Nerlich  5 , V Asensi  2   6   7 , A Perciaccante  2   8 , O Appenzeller  2   9   10 , R Bianucci  2   11   12   13
Affiliations
Review

Hydroxy-chloroquine to treat COVID-19 - infected patients: Some lessons from medical anthropology and history of medicine

P Charlier et al. Ethics Med Public Health. 2020 Oct-Dec.

Abstract
in English, French

It is certainly too early to take stock of Professor Raoult's intuitions, and moreover, that is not the aim of this short article. Nevertheless, experience has shown that in times of unprecedented health crises, prescriptions often turn out to be adventurous, especially when it comes to a new virus. The collective imagination around a remedy often takes the place of a guarantee or, on the contrary, a safeguard. Here, the authors question the implementation of hydroxy-chloroquine treatment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. How was his prescription discussed in this context of crisis? What lesson can we learn from medical anthropology and the history of medicine, by witnessing other epidemics and atypical or unconventional substances or behaviors of practitioners?

Il est certainement trop tôt pour faire le point sur les intuitions du professeur Raoult, et ce n’est d’ailleurs pas le but de ce court article. Néanmoins, l’expérience a montré qu’en période de crise sanitaire sans précédent, les prescriptions se révèlent souvent aventureuses, surtout lorsqu’il s’agit d’un nouveau virus. L’imagination collective autour d’un remède se substitue souvent à une garantie ou, au contraire, à une sauvegarde. Ici, les auteurs s’interrogent sur la mise en œuvre du traitement à l’hydroxy-chloroquine dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19. Comment sa prescription a-t-elle été discutée dans ce contexte de crise ? Quelle leçon pouvons-nous tirer de l’anthropologie médicale et de l’histoire de la médecine, en étant témoins d’autres épidémies et de substances ou comportements atypiques ou non conventionnels des praticiens ?

Keywords: Biomedical ethics; History of diseases; History of medicine; Medical anthropology; Medical controversy; Unconventional treatment.

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References

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