Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Everybody knows that ivermectin, a horse de-worming medicine, should not be used by humans to fight COVID-19.
That’s what everybody in the media has been saying.
Even a shallow dive into the internet, however, reveals that ivermectin is still being tested for its effectiveness against the COVID-19 virus. In other words, many are wrongly assuming the drug has been found conclusively to be inappropriate for COVID-19 treatment.
We don’t know whether or not it is effective. That seems to be the current bottom line.
For that reason alone, people are well advised to refrain from using it against COVID-19, especially since readily available vaccines have been shown to be quite, if not completely, effective in preventing and reducing symptoms of COVID-19.
Further, monoclonal antibody treatments have been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms, if given during early stages of COVID-19.
It is still best to consult with doctors and follow their advice. Do not rely on neighbors who don’t have medical credentials, or social media circles made up of lay persons, which tend to magnify perceived validity through repetition.
That being said, ivermectin does have a place in human medicine. It can be prescribed for humans to fight the same kind of parasites that the drug fights in horses, and in a lotion, it can be rubbed on the scalp or on skin to treat external parasites like head lice and for skin conditions such as rosacea.
With COVID-19, however, studies of ivermectin have been flawed by small sample sizes, poor experimental design and doubts about the integrity of the data used to draw conclusions.
More studies, however, are being conducted. Some of the inconclusive studies have shown promise, but not enough to declare ivermectin effective in preventing COVID-19 or easing its symptoms, let alone curing it.
If you’re bent on trying ivermectin, however, you should make sure you get a human dose with human-appropriate non-active ingredients. The only ways to do that legally are by prescription and by participating in a real medical study.
Using your horse as an excuse for procuring the drug through a veterinarian could be dangerous, because you might end up taking a horse-size dose. Remember, your horse could weigh from 840 pounds to a ton.
Overdosing on ivermectin can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, allergic reactions like itching and hives, problems with balance, seizures, coma and even death, according to medical sources I saw on the internet.
That being said, the claims of a doctor that ivermectin overdose hospitalizations and deaths were running rampant, which were eagerly embraced by mainstream media, were denied by the hospitals that were allegedly seeing an ivermectin epidemic.
Ivermectin may or may not be shown effective against COVID-19 and its symptoms, but real, disciplined science must be allowed to take its course.
In the meantime, I would stick with vaccines, which I have had, to prevent COVID-19 as much as possible, and physician-prescribed drugs, which were not available when I had COVID-19, if you do get it.
Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: