“You wouldn’t get your chemotherapy at a feed store. I mean, you wouldn’t treat your pneumonia with your animal’s medication,” he continued. “It can be dangerous to get the wrong doses of medication, especially for something that’s meant for a horse or a cow. We understand the environment we live in, but it’s really important, if people have medical needs, go through your physician or provider.”
In animals, ivermectin is commonly used to treat or prevent parasites. Ivermectin tablets are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat several conditions caused by parasitic worms in people, and topical forms are approved to treat conditions like head lice and rosacea. But it is not approved to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Back in March, the FDA warned against using “unconventional treatments,” such as ivermectin, that aren’t approved or authorized by the agency to treat or prevent COVID-19, saying they can “cause serious harm.”
The warning came following “multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses,” the FDA said in a consumer update.
The high doses in ivermectin products for animals “can be highly toxic in humans,” the FDA warned. Versions of the drug approved for humans could also interact with other medications, and people could overdose and potentially die, the agency said.