No Surprise: Ivermectin Not Effective in Stopping Severe COVID, Study Finds

 If you're an anti-vaxxer or know one who didn't get the COVID-19 shot and decided to try the false-cure of Ivermectin, you or they are either dead now or have lasting effects from a bad case of COVID-19. A new study AGAIN confirms that Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug (not an antiviral, and COVID is a virus) does nothing for people with COVID. Today's blog is about that study.

    Side note: Why people don't get vaccinated and be smart is unfathomable because it is SO selfish. COVID isn't about you. It's also about protecting those around you, including the most vulnerable.  Here's the Study: 

Ivermectin Not Effective in Stopping Severe COVID, Study Finds By Marcia Frellick, Web MD

Feb. 22, 2022 -- Ivermectin, the controversial anti-parasitic drug, does not help treat mild to moderate COVID-19, another new study has found.

WHAT IS IVERMECTIN REALLY USED FOR IN PEOPLE AND ANIMALS? What Is Ivermectin? ANSWER: the FDA has approved prescription ivermectin tablets to treat two infections caused by parasitic worms. Doctors can also prescribe a type of ivermectin that you put on your skin (called a topical medication) to treat head lice and skin conditions like rosacea and scabies. In animals, ivermectin can help prevent heartworm disease and certain parasites

"The study findings do not support the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19," researchers said in the study published last week in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The trial took place at 20 public hospitals and a COVID-19 quarantine center in Malaysia between May 31 and Oct. 25.

BOTTOM LINE DIRECT FROM THE JOURNAL PAPER:

Findings  In this open-label randomized clinical trial of high-risk patients with COVID-19 in Malaysia, a 5-day course of oral ivermectin administered during the first week of illness did not reduce the risk of developing severe disease compared with standard of care alone.

Meaning  The study findings do not support the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19.

In this randomized trial of 490 high-risk patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, ivermectin treatment during early illness did not prevent progression to severe disease.

Among 241 patients who received ivermectin, 52 developed severe COVID-19, compared to 43 of 249 patients who did not take the drug.

The people studied, who were on average 62 years old and were 55% women, were randomly assigned to receive either a 5-day course of ivermectin plus standard care or standard care alone. 

The researchers also looked at smaller groups of people in the study to see if there were differences in whether they were vaccinated. They said that analysis was "unremarkable."

Just more than half of participants (51.8%) were fully vaccinated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Among the vaccinated patients, 17.7% in the ivermectin group and 9.2% in the control group developed severe disease.

Ivermectin and COVID 

While the FDA has not approved ivermectin to treat COVID-19, doctors continue to prescribe the inexpensive and widely available antiparasitic drug anyway. There is little evidence the drug is effective in treating COVID-19, but it has been embraced by anti-vaccine advocates as a useable alternative.

There have been reports of people becoming hospitalized after taking ivermectin, and the FDA has even warned against its use.