Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
CLEVELAND, Ohio- As the controversy heightens over the use of animal ivermectin to treat COVID-19 in humans, researchers and medical doctors from the Cleveland Clinic are piggybacking on the recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are advising against this type of use of the prescription animal drug.
Traditionally used to treat heart-worms and other parasites in horses and cows, ivermectin has also been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use by humans to treat parasitic roundworm infections like ascariasis, head lice and rosacea. And as desperation mounts around COVID-19 and more potent strains of the coronavirus such as the delta variant emerge some people are turning to animal ivermectin to treat symptoms of COVID-19.
A major problem, however, is that the use of the drug in high doses can cause side effects, data show, and in some cases death in humans, and in animals.
“The oral formulation doses are much lower than the topical formulation doses,” said Cleveland Clinic critical care physician Abhijit Duggal, MD relative to an Aug. 27 report published by the clinic as to the dangers of using ivermectin to combat COVID-19 “There is some unproven chatter on the Internet and people are suggesting that higher doses of ivermectin should be used so people are getting the topical formulation and then using that as well.”
Though ivermectin is being promoted on social media and elsewhere as a “miracle drug,” there isn’t much data to support its effectiveness against COVID-19, Dr. Duggal says. Also, clinical trials on the controversial drug and its impact on COVID-19 have been inconclusive.
While a trial in Egypt boasted a 90% reduction in COVID deaths when ivermectin was given to participants and this was considerably higher than FDA-approved treatments, it was later determined that the results came from a preprint and that the findings were a bit problematic. This was coupled with the fact that the study wasn’t formally published in a medical journal either. Another thing that stood out in that trial was that one group of participants received ivermectin while the control group was given hydroxychloroquine instead of a placebo.
"These studies have not reported seeing any signals that indicate effectiveness," said Dr. Duggal of studies out of Egypt and in general regarding the use of the drug to treat COVID-19 "The study out of Egypt had such an inflated outcome in terms of improved survival, that this drove a lot of the discussion around the use of ivermectin now."
Meanwhile, the FDA is undertaking trials and studies on its own and has issued a consumer warning about the effects of animal ivermectin on humans, particularly in high doses. According to the FDA ivermectin overdose side effects include the following:
- Diarrhea.
- Itching.
- Hives.
- Balance problems.
- Seizures.
- Low blood pressure.
- Coma.
- Vomiting
Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a seasoned Black political, scientific, legal and investigative reporter who trained with the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years.
