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Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

fda.gov

21–30 of 63 posts

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#21
Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death?

Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem.

My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a post-covid world leading towards a mania where vaccines are somehow bad is the only thing that makes sense.

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#22
post #9
post #7

> Ivermectin tablets are approved by the FDA to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. In addition, some topical forms of ivermectin are approved to treat external parasites like head lice and for skin conditions such as rosacea. I wish people would stop making the claim that it's "just a horse dewormer" when even the FDA says it has some uses in hu…

The big problem is that the pills people are obtaining are "just a horse dewormer" . The specification is different, the dosages are different, and the active ingredients differ (drug delivery is frighteningly complex area). Meanwhile people made enough run on ivermectin-based horse dewormer that people had trouble getting it for livestock.

> the dosages are different, and the active ingredients differ

Neither the dosages nor the active ingredients are different. Both for humans and for animals, the recommended dose of Ivermectin to treat parasites is 200 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. The "active ingredients" are Ivermectin, period.

I have a bottle of injectable Ivermectin intended for cattle here, and it says it's pure Ivermectin in propylene glycol (typical carrier for injectables even for humans). I got it to treat Histomoniasis in our turkeys, which is btw an off-label use, because officially Ivermectin is not supposed to be effective against protozoa, but Histomoniasis is almost 100% fatal in turkeys and I haven't lost one since starting to give them Ivermectin as soon as I notice they have it. I've found that if I give them 600 micrograms/kg body weight every other day 3 times, they recover fully. What does this have to do with Covid? Only that a) Ivermectin works for some things other than those for which it's officially "blessed", b) at least in turkeys a much larger than normal dose doesn't seem to have any ill effects. As for the dose, I decided that it was probably safe for our turkeys because I read a paper where they gave that dosage to humans to combat malaria by making those humans lethally toxic to the mosquitos. The paper said the dose was "well tolerated". If they can do that to their human patients I can do it with my turkeys.

I'm not planning to inject myself with my veterinary Ivermectin even if I did come down with Covid... because I agree that so far the evidence that it's helpful isn't very strong. But I also think that this article is quite laughable... basically it says "Why You shouldn't use Ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid: because, uh... because we haven't said it's OK to do so." Sorry CDC, but your credibility just isn't /that/ high. And going to a hospital for /anything/ is also really dangerous... almost certainly more so than a couple of doses of Ivermectin.

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#23

It seems like just yesterday the people who are now pushing Ivermectin as the miracle cure were pushing Hydrochloroquine. You don't hear much about that from them any more. What happened?

HCQ is still considered effective for early treatment, but Ivermectin appears effective in later stages of treatment. You can read all the peer reviewed science for yourself at c19ivermectin.com and c19hcq.com

A good infograph of the two are on the front pages if you cycle through the images, but I'll link them here,

ivm: https://c19ivermectin.com/plot/ispae2.png

hcq: https://c19hcq.com/plot/spae2.png

You can see that in early stage treatment HCQ is effective, but not as much in later stage treatments. Also, Ivermectin doesn't have side effects as strong as HCQ from what I understand.

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#24
post #21

Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death? Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem. My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a p…

I'm skeptical about the efficacy of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine over longer periods of time.

I've still not heard a reasonable explanation about why this vaccine is expected to work long-term when the flu shot clearly does not. Especially since SARS-CoV-2 mutates faster than the flu virus.

Can anyone give me an explanation of why vaccines are touted for fast-evolving viruses like the flu and SARS-CoV-2?

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#25
post #8

There are some studies indicating that ivermectin may be helpful in treating covid. But those studies are small, not statistically strong, and not all necessarily trustworthy. There are a few larger, more mainstream studies that don't look too promising. But ivermectin is still a candidate and deserves further study (and there are larger studies underway). All that being said, this whole situation is basically an amp…

> But those studies are small, not statistically strong, and not all necessarily trustworthy.

All of the Ivermectin studies are small?

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#26

Also, Merck itself still doesn't recommend it, citing: "No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and; A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies." https://www.merck.com/news/merck-statement-on-ivermectin-use... Cynically, you could say they should be motivated to support this trend, as it would be more $ for them. But that hasn't happened ye…

[deleted]

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#27
post #21

Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death? Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem. My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a p…

I'm skeptical about the efficacy of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine over longer periods of time. I've still not heard a reasonable explanation about why this vaccine is expected to work long-term when the flu shot clearly does not. Especially since SARS-CoV-2 mutates faster than the flu virus. Can anyone give me an explanation of why vaccines are touted for fast-evolving viruses like the flu and SARS-CoV-2?

>Especially since SARS-CoV-2 mutates faster than the flu virus.

This doesn't jive with what I have heard, that SARS-CoV-2 mutates rather slowly, like other coronaviruses.

And that the flu is completely different, having the ability to recombine parts, which is why we have a different strain every years, aka H1N1, H2N1, H2N2, etc. Every year they have to guess which one will be prevalent, therefore the yearly flu shots.

SARS-CoV-2 has not mutated into a different strain (variants are not strains), and is not expected to. Immune system response for other coronaviruses has been observed to be long lasting (17 years for SARS-CoV-1).

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#28
post #21

Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death? Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem. My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a p…

You do realize the Covid vaccine is extremely expensive in many parts of the world and not everyone will be vaccinated, correct?

It is frightening how people will apply no common sense before attacking any group of people that isn't 100% on board with their solution to a problem.

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#29
post #21

Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death? Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem. My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a p…

>Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin

Probably because Ivermectin has gone through the rigorous process of testing/approval required for use in humans, that we haven't had time to do with the vaccine. I mean, it's completely understandable why people would seek out well-tested drugs, that are more predictable due to the scientific scrutiny they've been under, than a vaccine that got rushed into production. Are people honestly surprised by this? I mean, sure Ivermectin probably isn't a good covid treatment but if there aren't negative side-effects and it has a chance of helping then I don't see a problem with taking it under doctor supervision. I mean, we want to stop the pandemic, right? What's the big issue with looking to well-tested, scientifically-scrutinized medications as possible treatments for people who already have covid?

Re: Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent Covid-19

#30
post #21

Why is anyone seriously talking about Ivermectin when the Moderna vaccine is 96%+ effective at preventing symptoms that require hospitalization, and 99%+ at preventing death? Covid-19 prevention and treatment is basically a solved problem. My limited understanding of other's reality suggests to me that people have connected deeply with a community (through identity poltics or... fun) that is no longer relevant in a p…

You do realize the Covid vaccine is extremely expensive in many parts of the world and not everyone will be vaccinated, correct? It is frightening how people will apply no common sense before attacking any group of people that isn't 100% on board with their solution to a problem.

The FDA website isn't targeting the third world. It's directed at people living in America, where they are able to get the vaccine for free.
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