{"id":9956,"date":"2020-04-30T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T19:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?p=9956"},"modified":"2020-04-30T15:15:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T19:15:50","slug":"safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic has many people searching for remedies to prevent or treat the disease. In particular, recent media coverage of clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil, among others) and a similar medication called chloroquine (brand name Aralen) have led some people to take these without a doctor\u2019s prescription, or to take a higher dose than what they have been prescribed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the United States, hydroxychloroquine is approved for the treatment of malaria, systemic lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Chloroquine is approved for the treatment of malaria. While they can be very effective in the treatment of certain conditions, side effects and toxicity can occur at even regularly prescribed doses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine toxicity can involve almost every organ system. Effects may include headache, vision or hearing changes, low blood potassium, and changes in heartbeat. If used without a doctor\u2019s supervision, in combination with other medications, or by someone with underlying medical problems, side effects can include irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), seizures, and heart failure leading to death.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends<\/span><\/a> no one take hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine to prevent or treat COVID-19 outside of a clinical trial because of the risk of heart failure.\u00a0 This medication and substances related to it (including those found in fish tank additives) should never be taken without a physician\u2019s approval.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have taken hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine and are concerned about the possibility of side effects, call your doctor or the Poison Control hotline at 1-800-222-1222.\u00a0 For more information, see the Blue Ridge Poison Center’s article on hydroxychloroquine<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic has many people searching for remedies to prevent or treat the disease. In particular, recent media coverage of clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil, among others) and a similar medication called chloroquine (brand name Aralen) have led some people to take these without a doctor\u2019s prescription, or to take a higher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9,28],"class_list":["post-9956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-toxnews","tag-poisoning","tag-side-effects"],"modified_by":"Tox Team","yoast_head":"\nSafety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The COVID-19 pandemic has many people searching for remedies to prevent or treat the disease. In particular, recent media coverage of clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil, among others) and a similar medication called chloroquine (brand name Aralen) have led some people to take these without a doctor\u2019s prescription, or to take a higher […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tox Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tox Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tox Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909\"},\"headline\":\"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":269,\"keywords\":[\"poisoning\",\"side effects\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tox Hot Topics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/\",\"name\":\"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/30\\\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental Health\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909\",\"name\":\"Tox Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tox Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/environmental-health\\\/author\\\/amyhayes\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health","og_description":"The COVID-19 pandemic has many people searching for remedies to prevent or treat the disease. In particular, recent media coverage of clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil, among others) and a similar medication called chloroquine (brand name Aralen) have led some people to take these without a doctor\u2019s prescription, or to take a higher […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/","og_site_name":"Environmental Health","article_published_time":"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00","author":"Tox Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tox Team","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/"},"author":{"name":"Tox Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/#\/schema\/person\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909"},"headline":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine","datePublished":"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/"},"wordCount":269,"keywords":["poisoning","side effects"],"articleSection":["Tox Hot Topics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/","name":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine - Environmental Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-04-30T19:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-30T19:15:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/#\/schema\/person\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2020\/04\/30\/safety-of-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Safety of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/","name":"Environmental Health","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/#\/schema\/person\/44ecb3bf37cad02e747ef530bf776909","name":"Tox Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a9991f1b1ec573dd732cedab65e19963656625823ab0bca32249f9419ea699c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tox Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/author\/amyhayes\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9957,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9956\/revisions\/9957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}