ANNAPOLIS (Maryland) – “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
These were the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) strong words of warning against the use of ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19.
In a Bloomberg report, the FDA’s comments followed news of people in Mississippi taking ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19. The drug is often used against parasites in livestock.
The state currently has the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the US.
On Friday, Mississippi’s health department had issued a warning that more than 70% of recent calls to its poison centre were related to patients taking ivermectin.
It was reported that they bought the medication from livestock supply centres.
It added that 85% of callers had mild symptoms but that one “was instructed to seek further evaluation due to the amount of ivermectin reportedly ingested”.
Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, was reported as saying that he had heard reports of people taking the drug “as a preventative” measure.
“Which I think is really kind of crazy, so please don’t do that.”
The US National Institutes of Health said most studies on ivermectin use against Covid-19 had “significant limitations” and “insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against the drug’s use”.
Another FDA warning said ivermectin “is not an antiviral” and “taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm”.
The agency added that the medication has been approved in smaller doses to treat two conditions caused by parasitic worms in humans. – The Vibes, August 22, 2021
