Mississippi Poison Control officials say they are receiving an influx of calls from people trying to treat COVID-19 by using anti-parasite medicine purchased at livestock stores.
According to the Associated Press, Mississippi Department of Health officials are saying that at least 70 percent of recent calls to the Mississippi Poison Control Center have been related to the ingestion of livestock or animal formulations of ivermectin purchased at livestock supply centers.
Last week, the Mississippi Health Department took to social media to warn people on its Facebook page not to use medicines meant for animals. “Do not use ivermectin products made for animals,” it said in a Facebook post.
All the warnings from the various health officials at the federal and state levels come about as Mississippi is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and intensive care units are nearing capacity, reports ABC News.
Mississippi currently has the highest COVID-19 case rates in the country and the second-lowest vaccination rate, according to recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Prevention (CDC).
Some of the symptoms associated with ivermectin toxicity include rash, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurologic disorders, and potentially severe hepatitis requiring hospitalization.
What’s going on about taking a worm medicine for COVID-19?
Strangely enough, but ivermectin, an antiparasitic used to deworm animals, is being touted as a miracle cure for Covid-19 by doctors and campaigners around the globe. The only problem is that leading health experts around the globe are also warning against its use.
And like many other so-called “remedies” that have been touted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, including then-President Donald Trump’s suggestion to ingest a disinfectant to protect yourself, they have no proven scientific basis.
Even though a few treatments, such as dexamethasone, Gilead’s remdesivir, and various monoclonal antibody treatments have been granted emergency approval for certain hospitalized patients with COVID-19, these resources are limited.
So this leaves the door wide open for some people and even some physicians to improvise with unapproved or off-label and sometimes off-the-wall remedies, and there are literally millions of websites on the Internet pushing all kinds of miracle cures or preventive concoctions against the coronavirus.
Ivermectin – the silver bullet of livestock medicines
Ivermectin was first discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981. Besides its use in veterinary medicine, it is also used to treat certain parasitic diseases in humans, including head lice, scabies, some nematode infections, and lymphatic filariasis.
Shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Australian researchers reported ivermectin could inhibit the in vitro coronavirus replication in large doses. Note that it said “large doses.”
But it turns out that this misinformation was widely spread claiming that ivermectin is beneficial for treating and preventing COVID-19. However, it was found that such claims are not backed by credible scientific evidence.
In February 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published guidelines for the use of Ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19.
While acknowledging that “ivermectin docking may interfere with the attachment of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein to the human cell membrane, no clinical trials have reported a clinical benefit for ivermectin in patients with these viruses.”
The NIH study went on to say that achieving adequate plasma concentrations necessary for the antiviral would require the administration of doses up to 100-fold higher than those approved for use in humans.
Additionally, The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said the available data does not support the drug’s use for Covid-19 “outside well-designed clinical trials”, and the World Health Organisation also concluded that ivermectin should only be used to treat the virus in a clinical trial setting.
The bottom line? There is just no solid evidence to show where using Ivermectin will protect you from COVID-19. It will make you sick as a dog, but that is another story.
