hydroxychloroquine

This is an anti-malarial drug, used for over 50 years in treating malaria. It was suggested that it might be effective in fighting the COVID-19 virus, a suggestion enthusiastically taken up by Donald Trump but less enthusiastically by his medical advisors who pointed out that there was no research to prove the case one way or the other.  However, research is being done and there are some positive signs. From this to actual use in the battle against the disease is still a long stretch.  

As in all chemical names,  the elements of the name tell you what is in the compound, so hydroxyl- means there is hydrogen and oxygen present, chloro- means that there is chlorine, and the –quine at the end stands for quinolone, an organic compound.  Sadly two Americans took Trump’s advice and consumed some fish food that had chloroquine phosphate in it. One of them died and the other was very sick.