Azithromycin: effects for treating COVID-19 are uncertain (search done on 16 April 2020)
Citation: Gbinigie K, Frie K. Should azithromycin be used to treat COVID-19? A rapid review. BJGP open. 2020 Jun 23;4(2):bjgpopen20X101094
What is this? Azithromycin has been suggested as possible treatment for COVID-19 patients.
In this rapid review, the authors searched for in vivo and in vitro studies assessing the safety and effectiveness of azithromycin for treating COVID-19 patients. They restricted their searches to articles published from 2019 onwards, but did not restrict by language of publication and did the search on 16 April 2020. They included two in vitro studies and one in vivo study, which were all published as pre-prints.
What was found: At the time of this review, the available evidence on the effects of azithromycin for treating COVID-19 patients was very limited and the potential benefits and harms were uncertain.