Stop using ivermectin as a treatment to COVID-19. That’s the message from the American Medical Association, who officially called for an ‘immediate end’ to the use of the drug in COVID-19 treatments.
This as doctors across the U.S. prescribe it for that purpose.
Podcast giant Joe Rogan claimed he was using it to treat his case of COVID-19, which due to popularity online, prompted a major rise in interest around the drug.
Ivermectin is a drug used to treat parasites in animals, but it’s not an anti-viral. It’s also not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use against COVID-19. Side effects include neurologic disorders, seizures, coma and even death.
“We have seen patients that have delayed their necessary and appropriate presentation to a hospital because they’re taking this cocktail that has been sold and promoted to them as highly effective,” said Dr. Mark Casanova, a Texas Medical Association COVID-19 Task Force member. The drug has skyrocketed in use in states like Texas, where COVID-19 cases have surged amid COVID’s delta outbreak.
“Ivermectin is designed to, both in livestock and in humans, to treat gastrointestinal stomach bugs; basically worms and other such parasites,” Casanova explained. “So it stands to reason that it’s really concentrating on things that are growing in the intestinal tract that don’t belong.”
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