Coronavirus Treatment: Wisconsin Woman Taking Hydroxychloroquine For 19 Years Had COVID-19

A woman from Wisconsin, who has been regularly taking hydroxychloroquine to treat lupus for 19 years, revealed she still got sick from COVID-19.

Known only as Kim, the woman told CBS Local she felt the symptoms of coronavirus around mid-April after an essential trip to the grocery store.

Kim said she had a fever, cough and was "weak all over," and added her condition quickly went downhill when she couldn't breathe. She found out she was positive for COVID-19 after a test.

"I’m like, ‘How can I be sick? How? I’m on the hydroxychloroquine,'" Kim said. "They were like, ‘Well, nobody’s ever said that was the cure or that was going to keep you safe’ and it definitely did not.”

Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug that's also used for treating autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. The drug received much attention after President Donald Trump touted it as a "game-changer" that could cure COVID-19.

The president said during a press briefing Monday he has been medicating with hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against coronavirus for more than a week. Trump also claimed frontliners cope with the demands of their jobs by taking hydroxychloroquine.

"You look at doctors and nurses. A lot of them are taking [hydroxychloroquine] as a preventative," the president said.

Kim said she thought she was safe from COVID-19 because of what Trump said about the drug.

“It kind of makes me mad that [Trump] thinks it’s going to do that and is telling the whole world it’s going to do that," she said.

Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, Trump's physician, said in a memo the president is in "very good health" and remains negative for the coronavirus, thus “the potential benefit from the treatment outweighed the relative risks.”

But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned taking hydroxychloroquine outside of its intended use is risky. The agency had to update its guidelines to state hydroxychloroquine has “not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19" after a drug shortage.

Meanwhile, the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan and the Duke Clinical Research Institute in North Carolina are doing studies and clinical trials on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in preventing COVID-19. The initial results of the trials are expected to be out by summer or fall.