/oss/taxonomy/term/4415/all en /oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking/ivermectin-convalescent-plasma-and-hydroxychloroquine-one-year-rotten-apples <p>It has been a little over a year since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. Medical scientists quickly started testing a barrage of potential therapies against the disease, which gave hope that new treatments might quickly be identified.</p> Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8658 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/back-away-americas-frontline-doctors <p>Not a day goes by without a video being forwarded to me accompanied by the question, “Is this true?” Invariably the answer is “um..no..there is no evidence,” and that usually ends the discussion. Sometimes, though, I can discern that a video has legs because I get the “Is this true?” query several times a day. An example of this is a recent epic, dripping with pseudoscience, produced by Dr. Lee Merritt an American orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Merritt may be a fine orthopedic surgeon, but when it comes to the science of COVID-19, she is a bumbling neophyte.</p> Thu, 04 Feb 2021 22:06:49 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8607 at /oss /oss/article/health/covid-science-express-malaria-drugs-and-mutations <p>A weekly explanation of the emerging science behind COVID-19 and its infectious agent, SARS-CoV-2.</p> <p><b>The evidence for chloroquine is pretty thin gruel</b></p> <p>Chloroquine and the related drug hydroxychloroquine have been in the news a lot lately, promoted as potential allies or even cures in the fight against COVID-19. This is an excellent (and unfortunate) example of a grain of sand quickly snowballing into a house of worship.</p> Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8205 at /oss /oss/article/health/are-anti-malaria-drugs-set-be-game-changer-battle-against-covid-19 <p>The words had hardly left President Trump’s mouth when FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn strode to the podium and politely walked back Trump’s claim that a drug that is effective in the treatment of COVID-19 would be made available almost immediately. Not so, said the Commissioner. The President had been referring to chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, a pair of drugs that have been used in the treatment of malaria since the 1940s. They were subsequently found useful in the treatment of some forms of autoimmune disease such as lupus.</p> Fri, 20 Mar 2020 18:46:30 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8187 at /oss