Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Is Ivermectin? A Short Guide on Everything You Must Know
https://www.sciencealert.com ^ | August 30, 2021 | Staff

Posted on 08/30/2021 10:15:37 AM PDT by Red Badger

SCIENCEALERT STAFF Ivermectin is the active ingredient in many widely available anti-parasite medications used to treat infections of worms, scabies, and lice in humans and livestock.

Recently, it has gained popularity in some parts of the world as a potential COVID-19 treatment, despite a lack of scientific evidence for its benefits, and a substantial risk of harmful overdoses.

How does ivermectin work? Ivermectin was developed from a species of Streptomyces bacterium found in the 1970s, the finding was a huge win for the livestock industry and for fighting numerous devastating illnesses around the world, eventually earning the researchers a Nobel Prize.

Ivermectin and its family of parasite-fighting compounds act selectively on a kind of chloride channel only found in invertebrates.

While this makes it a relatively safe drug for knocking out any creepy-crawlies in the body, it is possible to have a toxic reaction or overdose of this medication. At higher concentrations, ivermectin can interact with similar channels in vertebrates like us, interfering with nervous impulses and muscle control.

Can ivermectin treat COVID-19? Over the past 50 years, researchers have found that ivermectin may have other interactions in the human body apart from just tackling parasites.

There have even been signs that ivermectin has antiviral effects in the lab on RNA viruses such as Zika, Hendra, and HIV1, however trials in animal models have been spotty to date.

Since ivermectin already had FDA approval for treating parasites, it seemed like a perfect candidate to test against the SARS-CoV-2 virus – as a potential medication that might limit viral replication in the human body.

Early in 2020, a laboratory study on cell cultures concluded that a single treatment could cause a 5,000-fold reduction in virus particle numbers within just two days. However, this is vastly different from actually using the drug in people.

Several influential studies on the potential benefit of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment have resulted in controversy, with independent researchers uncovering substantial scientific fraud in preprint papers that were widely publicized without having received peer review, but ended up being removed from preprint servers or retracted.

"My sincere opinion is that at least a third of the evidence supporting the use of ivermectin as a COVID-19 therapeutic is not just 'based on shaky data', but consists of studies that may never have happened at all," writes Australian epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz.

The latest evidence from a large clinical trial on several repurposed drugs that might be useful for COVID-19 treatment has shown no benefit for ivermectin. More studies are underway, however.

Despite fraud, controversies, and lackluster evidence, ivermectin has been popularized as a COVID-19 treatment around the world, with a number of medical professionals prescribing ivermectin to patients in the hope it might stave off a more serious infection.

If ivermectin has approval, and doctors are prescribing it, what's the harm? Ivermectin has approval in many government jurisdictions for treating parasitic infections. None have approved it for treating COVID-19, and doing so can be dangerous.

Drug regulators such as the US FDA and Australian TGA have issued strict warnings against treating COVID-19 with ivermectin.

"There's a lot of misinformation around, and you may have heard that it's okay to take large doses of ivermectin. That is wrong," warns the FDA.

If ivermectin does have any antiviral benefits in people, clinical trials are needed to determine precisely what dosage can provide the greatest benefits with the fewest risks, for example. There could be conflicts between medications commonly used to treat advanced cases of COVID-19, which would make either medication ineffective, or worse, cause harm.

Read the full US FDA warning here:

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19

All Explainers are determined by fact-checkers to be correct and relevant at the time of publishing. Text and images may be altered, removed, or added to as an editorial decision to keep information current.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; History
KEYWORDS: chinavirustreatment; covid1984; dewormed; ivermectin; ivermectininfo
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-90 next last
To: MHGinTN

I beg your pardon, what did I write that is a lie? You mean that there is no cure for COVID? There are treatments. There are vaccines. But there is no cure. A cure by definition must cure, not just sometimes help.


41 posted on 08/30/2021 10:53:39 AM PDT by bhl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Bob434
I suspect that in the not too distant future, we will see ivermectin pulled from shelves, or restricted to just scabies and worms treatment only.

That has already happened.

Several major corporate pharmacy groups will no longer fill Ivermectin prescriptions unless the physician attests that the purpose is for scabies and worms treatment.

This includes Kroger, CVS, Costco, and Walgreens. I am uncertain about Target.

The FDA is about to pick off the smaller pharmacies and veterinary supply stores with some new regulations.

It can be quite difficult in many States to get the Regeneron treatment before your eligibility expires.

The policy appears to be "Vaccinate or Die".

42 posted on 08/30/2021 10:53:46 AM PDT by flamberge (Time has run out. Work with what you've got.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Blennos

There have already been lots of clinical trials. The problem is, the clinical trials show clearly that Ivermectin works and is safe. That is not what they want.


43 posted on 08/30/2021 10:54:14 AM PDT by EastTexasTraveler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Invermectin is available, by prescription, at Walgreens, via Goodrx for $34.00; 20 tabs @ 3mg each. Its a lifesaver.


44 posted on 08/30/2021 10:54:57 AM PDT by chopperk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shanover
I'm not putting the experimental gene inoculation in my body.

Taking:
Acidophilus Probiotics
Whole Food Vitamins
extra C
extra D
extra Zinc
Querceting
Bromelain

On hand:
Nebulizer
Ivermectin
Target Hospital that has Regeneron treatment.

45 posted on 08/30/2021 10:59:10 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: flamberge

Oh that’s right too, I think it was Cuomo that forbade pharmacies from filling it, or was that hcq? Maybe both?

[[ The FDA is about to pick off the smaller pharmacies and veterinary supply stores with some new regulations]]

Those that got supplies before it happens will be golden then. Wonder what the shelf life is.


46 posted on 08/30/2021 11:00:38 AM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar
So now if my horse has roundworms I have to schlepp around on the dark web like a criminal.

Head to the country and find a small feed store. They'll have it. Mine has plenty here in rural Missouri. Safe-Guard with Fenbendazole is a good dewormer as well. Cures cancer too according to a few people. Have no idea if it does anything for COVID.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=Fenbendazole+cancer&atb=v1-1&ia=web

https://www.connersclinic.com/is-joe-tippens-still-alive-2021-update-fenbendazole-anti-cancer-drug-treatment/

47 posted on 08/30/2021 11:03:42 AM PDT by Pollard (#*&% Communism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
If ivermectin does have any antiviral benefits in people, clinical trials are needed to determine precisely what dosage can provide the greatest benefits with the fewest risks, for example.

There could be conflicts between medications commonly used to treat advanced cases of COVID-19, which would make either medication ineffective, or worse, cause harm.
***********************************************************************************
This medication was APPROVED by the FDA years ago. The actual safe dosage amount is already known. So the idea that a Doctor would not know what dosage was dangerous is disingenuous at best.

How effective various permissible dosages might be against the coof has not been proven by a random double blind study.
However, there has certainly been enough usage to have a darn good idea, by various doctors all over the world.

48 posted on 08/30/2021 11:07:48 AM PDT by greeneyes ( Moderation In Pursuit of Justice is NO Virtue--LET FREEDOM RING)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: who knows what evil?
There was another such story here in East Tennessee this morning...

Yeah, they're carpeting the various states with this artillery attack on Stromectol [Ivermectin].

That makes the 5th or 6th state I've seen - and I'm not even looking...

49 posted on 08/30/2021 11:13:16 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Pollard

Even Time Lords know to use ivermectin . . .


50 posted on 08/30/2021 11:15:19 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: bhl; Olog-hai; Pollard; MHGinTN
Could you post the type of Ivermectin, the treatment schedule and dosages he used?

Thanks in advance! :)

51 posted on 08/30/2021 11:17:04 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: kiryandil

Why not ask his widow. Do you have schedule and dosages that will be more effective than the vaccine? Please post. Thanks!


52 posted on 08/30/2021 11:23:13 AM PDT by bhl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: bhl

There are no ‘vaccines’ for the rona. There are mRNA 40 trilli8on pieces of RNA jabs, but no actual vaccines. There is a cure for Covid 19 and it is done by the human body’s immune system. You have made two lies, so far, that I have read. Would you like to try for three?


53 posted on 08/30/2021 11:23:35 AM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: bhl

No mention whether he dosed correctly.

Did he ever take zinc???

What were his D3 levels??

How soon did he take ivermectin??


54 posted on 08/30/2021 11:24:38 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏⁻ )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Tractor supply now requires you to show a picture of yourself with your horse to buy Ivermectin. Here's mine.
55 posted on 08/30/2021 11:25:43 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bhl; aMorePerfectUnion; Olog-hai; Pollard; MHGinTN
So, you got nothing, bhl.

Shoo!

56 posted on 08/30/2021 11:26:15 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: EastTexasTraveler
There have already been lots of clinical trials. The problem is, the clinical trials show clearly that Ivermectin works and is safe. That is not what they want.

You are absolutely right. We are witnessing a global propaganda campaign, sadly promulgated by even a few here on FR, to rid big pharma of the scourge of a cheap, effective, safe treatment for the Covid. If ivermectin and HCQ win, then the "vaccines" lose. And big pharma loses. A lot of money is at stake.

57 posted on 08/30/2021 11:27:03 AM PDT by Blennos ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla
face with tears of joy  face with tears of joy  face with tears of joy  face with tears of joy  face with tears of joy
58 posted on 08/30/2021 11:27:16 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN

Curious response. Does President Trump share your view that there is no COVID vaccine?


59 posted on 08/30/2021 11:28:53 AM PDT by bhl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: aMorePerfectUnion; bhl
The pistons in my car engine seized up because of low oil.

I put in motor oil, and it didn't do a thing to help.

I have proved conclusively that MOTOR OIL DOESN'T WORK.  winking face

60 posted on 08/30/2021 11:29:02 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-90 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson