[covid-19] Hydroxychloroquine for post-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 among naval personnel in Sri Lanka: study protoc

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Trials. 2020 Aug 27;21(1):748. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04659-7.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The first case of a coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection in a Sri Lankan was reported on March 11, 2020. The situation in Sri Lanka changed with the rapid increase of personnel contracting COVID-19 in a naval base camp that housed more than 4000 people. This provided a unique opportunity to study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), while taking stringent, non-pharmacologic, public health measures to prevent spread. Our aim is to study the effectiveness and safety of HCQ for PEP among naval personnel with exposure to COVID-19-positive patients.

METHODS/DESIGN: This is a placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical trial carried out in the naval base camp and quarantine centers of the Sri Lanka Navy, Ministry of Defense, Sri Lanka. Navy personnel who are exposed to a patient with confirmed COVID-19 infection but test negative for the virus on reverse real-time polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) at recruitment will be randomized, 200 to each arm, to receive HCQ or placebo and monitored for the development of symptoms or rRT-PCR positivity for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus for 14 days.

DISCUSSION: This trial will provide high-quality evidence of the effectiveness and safety of HCQ as PEP for COVID-19. The study design is unique due to the circumstances of the outbreak in a confined area among otherwise healthy adults, at a relatively early stage of its spread.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR) SLCTR/2020/011 . Registered on 04 May 2020.

PMID:32854751 | PMC:PMC7450681 | DOI:10.1186/s13063-020-04659-7


Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3285475 ... 4&v=2.11.5