They are very close chemically, but that doesn't mean they will act the same, obviously. So far all we know about the cleaner is the chloroquine phosphate. Would it be a pill, a liquid, is anything else is in it, how is it supposed to be used?
It's the same chemical. It's sold as both powder and liquid for aquarium use (and it's a medication, not a "cleaner", though it has a side effect of killing algae). There may be some aquarium formulations that include other ingredients, but all the ones I've googled up were just chloroquine phosphate. Precise dosing is very, very important, even when using the prescription tablets. A decimal point off by one place can easily kill someone, and it's obviously more complicated to calculate and measure a safe dose from a bulk formulation.
Thanks, the version usually used as a medicine is close in formula, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, and in looking at why one or the other, the plain chloroquine is a little more toxic to the retina, but still sometimes used. In fact it doesn't seem like a big distinction, so it must have been the dose. Maybe they took several, figuring they were bigger than fish. I hate these incomplete stories.
"Plain" chloroquine (both as chloroquine phosphate and chloroquine sulfate) is in very widespread use for malaria prevention, and is also in current use for lupus. Chloroquine is much more toxic overall, not just to the retina, and has a much narrower safe dosing range than hydroxychloroquine. Fatal chloroquine overdoses (using human pharmaceutical formulations) are not terribly uncommon. Some fatal overdoses were reported in Nigeria last week.
I think the DIY couple almost certainly overdosed. It's also possible that the formulation they had on hand had some additional ingredient in it, but the aquarium formulations I've googled up contained no additional ingredients. If they had a liquid formulation, it nay have been partially used and sitting around a while(pretty common to buy something like this when needed, and keep what's left for years in case it's needed again). In that case, it might have had some evaporation or settling, causing, for example 1 teaspoon of the liquid to contain a lot more chloroquine phosphate than indicated on the label.
Dosage calculation from a bulk powder or liquid formulation would take some knowledge. Dosages for humans are usually expressed in terms of the active ingredient, chloroquine, but the only formulations available are as chloroquine salts, e.g. chloroquine phosphate or chloroquine sulfate, and the conversion ratios are different depending on which you're using. See the formulas under the "Forms and Strengths" heading on this page: https://medicalguidelines.msf.org/viewport/EssDr/english/chloroquine-sulfate-or-phosphate-oral-16683315.html
The "fish tank stuff" is the same thing as the chloroquine used as a malaria drug, and now being used experimentally as a COVID-19 drug. Not guaranteed to have pharmaceutical grade purity, but it's still the same stuff. The aquarium products are chloroquine phosphate. Both chloroquine phosphate and chloroquine sulfate are used as malaria drugs. Accurate dosing is very important (much more so than with hydroxychloroquine), and fatal overdoses are all too common with the pharmaceutical chloroquine tablets.
People aren't crazy to be buying the aquarium formulations for emergency use in treating COVID-19, precisely because of overbearing government regulations and decrees like this Nevada governor has done.
That article says the malaria drugs are similar to the fish tank stuff. What crap.
They are very close chemically, but that doesn't mean they will act the same, obviously. So far all we know about the cleaner is the chloroquine phosphate. Would it be a pill, a liquid, is anything else is in it, how is it supposed to be used?
It's the same chemical. It's sold as both powder and liquid for aquarium use (and it's a medication, not a "cleaner", though it has a side effect of killing algae). There may be some aquarium formulations that include other ingredients, but all the ones I've googled up were just chloroquine phosphate. Precise dosing is very, very important, even when using the prescription tablets. A decimal point off by one place can easily kill someone, and it's obviously more complicated to calculate and measure a safe dose from a bulk formulation.
Thanks, the version usually used as a medicine is close in formula, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, and in looking at why one or the other, the plain chloroquine is a little more toxic to the retina, but still sometimes used. In fact it doesn't seem like a big distinction, so it must have been the dose. Maybe they took several, figuring they were bigger than fish. I hate these incomplete stories.
"Plain" chloroquine (both as chloroquine phosphate and chloroquine sulfate) is in very widespread use for malaria prevention, and is also in current use for lupus. Chloroquine is much more toxic overall, not just to the retina, and has a much narrower safe dosing range than hydroxychloroquine. Fatal chloroquine overdoses (using human pharmaceutical formulations) are not terribly uncommon. Some fatal overdoses were reported in Nigeria last week.
I think the DIY couple almost certainly overdosed. It's also possible that the formulation they had on hand had some additional ingredient in it, but the aquarium formulations I've googled up contained no additional ingredients. If they had a liquid formulation, it nay have been partially used and sitting around a while(pretty common to buy something like this when needed, and keep what's left for years in case it's needed again). In that case, it might have had some evaporation or settling, causing, for example 1 teaspoon of the liquid to contain a lot more chloroquine phosphate than indicated on the label.
Dosage calculation from a bulk powder or liquid formulation would take some knowledge. Dosages for humans are usually expressed in terms of the active ingredient, chloroquine, but the only formulations available are as chloroquine salts, e.g. chloroquine phosphate or chloroquine sulfate, and the conversion ratios are different depending on which you're using. See the formulas under the "Forms and Strengths" heading on this page: https://medicalguidelines.msf.org/viewport/EssDr/english/chloroquine-sulfate-or-phosphate-oral-16683315.html
The "fish tank stuff" is the same thing as the chloroquine used as a malaria drug, and now being used experimentally as a COVID-19 drug. Not guaranteed to have pharmaceutical grade purity, but it's still the same stuff. The aquarium products are chloroquine phosphate. Both chloroquine phosphate and chloroquine sulfate are used as malaria drugs. Accurate dosing is very important (much more so than with hydroxychloroquine), and fatal overdoses are all too common with the pharmaceutical chloroquine tablets.
People aren't crazy to be buying the aquarium formulations for emergency use in treating COVID-19, precisely because of overbearing government regulations and decrees like this Nevada governor has done.