Use of Azithromycin to Treat Covid-19: A Critical View

Abstract

This article aims to understand the pharmacological properties of AZT and analyze possible reasons for its use in the treatment of COVID-19 alone or associated with chloroquine (CQ) or hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). For this, a bibliographical research was carried out in the following databases: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), US National Library of Medicine (PUBMED) and ScienceDirect. In the study, data on the pharmacology of Azithromycin (AZT) were collected, its history, its uses, highlighting the research conducted in 2020 with this drug for the treatment of COVID-19. It should be noted that AZT is an antibiotic of the macrolide subclass with varied pharmacotherapeutic use, especially in the treatment of bacterial, respiratory, genitourinary and enteric infections. During the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, HCQ-associated AZT was considered for the treatment of the disease due to its in vitro results. There was much debate about the use of the combination of these drugs and even before the results of clinical studies were published, the Ministry of Health has already made recommendations regarding the use of these drugs to treat COVID-19. National and international health organizations were more cautious and highlighted the lack of scientific evidence for this use. The information collected in this review of the literature suggests that the administration of AZT or AZT associated with HCQ or CQ was not effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients for both mild and moderate or severe cases.