Americans take drugs for horses and cows to prevent COVID-19: doctors ask to stop

Health officials have warned against the unauthorized use of a drug called ivermectin as a drug to prevent or treat COVID-19. Writes about it USA Today.

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The drug, which has only been approved as an antiparasitic agent for the treatment of animals such as livestock and horses, has been the subject of a sharp increase in the number of calls to the Mississippi Poison Control Center.

Medicines made for humans are different from drugs for livestock, which are "highly concentrated, toxic to humans and can cause serious harm," the Mississippi Department of Health said.

At least two people have been hospitalized with potential ivermectin toxin poisoning after taking a drug made for livestock, the poison control center said.

Interest in the drug is on the rise as the delta variant of COVID-19 has stimulated higher rates of transmission of COVID-19 and increased the concern of vaccinated people about infection.

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Numerous reports of patients being hospitalized after “self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses” led the Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Stop taking the drug for them,” the department wrote on Twitter.

Ivermectin: what is known

Ivermectin in tablet form is used to treat parasitic worms. The FDA says the drug is used to treat head lice and skin conditions for topical use.

Other forms of ivermectin are used to treat parasites in horses and cows, and as a worm medicine for dogs.

Ivermectin overdose can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, allergic reactions such as itching or hives, seizures, dizziness, balance problems, coma, and potential death, according to the FDA.

What is the connection between the drug and COVID-19

Ivermectin is not an antiviral drug, but it was among the drugs proposed during the pandemic as a treatment for COVID-19. Similarly, some have touted hydroxychloroquine, a drug approved for the treatment of malaria, as a way to treat COVID-19 patients.

The FDA said it did not review data to support the drug's use to prevent COVID-19, although some initial research is still ongoing.

A British study by the University of Oxford is testing ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.

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More research is needed, but “there is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19,” the National Institutes of Health said.

Some stores label ivermectin products as hazardous to humans, while others remove the product from shelves to prevent shoppers from using it.

Durvet, which makes ivermectin oral paste for horses and topical medications for cattle and sheep, warns that the product is not safe or approved for use in humans to treat COVID-19 and "could cause serious injury or death."

At least 70% of recent visits to the Mississippi Poison Control Center have been linked to ingestion of ivermectin purchased from livestock centers, epidemiologist Paul Byers said.

Calls about ivermectin exposure and human use have increased at the Poison and Drug Information Center in Phoenix and the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the distribution of the drug had increased and the number of poisoning cases in July increased fivefold.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there, and you may have heard that it is okay to take large doses of ivermectin,” the FDA warning said. - It is not true".

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