Some people in Mississippi are ingesting an unproven livestock dewormer to counter coronavirus

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Sun, 2021-08-22 18:51 — mike kraft

As covid-19 surges in Mississippi, some people are ingesting an unproven livestock dewormer Mississippi State Epidemiologist Paul Byers warned that “at least 70 percent of the recent calls” to poison control have been related to the ingestion of ivermectin “purchased at livestock supply centers.” Timothy Bella Washington Post

The plea from Mississippi’s top doctor to a state grappling with the nation’s second-lowest vaccination rate seemed simple: Do not take ivermectin — a drug intended for treating worms in livestock — to prevent or treat the coronavirus.

Despite no scientific evidence that ivermectin is effective at preventing or treating covid-19, State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs was left baffled this week after one person was hospitalized for ingesting the horse dewormer medication to treat the virus — a “kind of crazy” act he likened to getting chemotherapy at a feed store.

“Please don’t do that,” he said.

Cases of people consuming ivermectin to treat the coronavirus in Mississippi are drawing alarm, with the state’s health department issuing an alert Friday warning people not to take the drug, saying the state’s poison control center has “received an increasing number of calls from individuals with potential ivermectin exposure taken to treat or prevent covid-19 infection.” Mississippi State Epidemiologist Paul Byers wrote in a letter to the MS Health Alert Network that “at least 70 percent of the recent calls” have been related to the ingestion of ivermectin “purchased at livestock supply centers.”

“Do NOT take drugs made for animals in any form,” the health department wrote on Facebook.

The spike in ivermectin use in Mississippi comes at a time when the state is suffering through what Dobbs described as “the worst part of the pandemic.” Mississippi reported more than 5,000 new covid cases Friday, bringing its seven-day average for new infections to 3,586, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. More than 1,600 people are hospitalized for the virus and about 450 beds in intensive care units are filled as of Saturday. ...

ALSO SEE: FDA warns people not to take veterinary drugs to treat Covid-19

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