- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has received reports of people using drugs for horses for self-treatment.
- Some people think that Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that can fight Covid-19.
- The FDA has not approved Ivermectin for Covid-19 patients.
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The US Food and Drug Administration on Saturday called on Americans to stop taking a popular livestock antiparasitic drug to treat or prevent Covid-19.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, you guys. Stop it,” the agency wrote on Twitter.
In a companion statementThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has received multiple reports of patients receiving treatment or hospitalization after “self-treatment of horses with ivermectin.”
“Some consumers are looking for unconventional treatments, which may not be surprising,” the FDA said. “It seems that people are becoming more and more interested in a drug called ivermectin, which can treat humans with Covid-19.”
This drug is commonly used in horses and cattle to treat or prevent parasites.Some studies involving ivermectin have shown promising early results in preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating in cell culture, which has promoted the widespread use of the drug in human preparations All of latin america.
but National Institutes of Health Most of the existing studies of ivermectin in Covid-19 patients have “incomplete information and major methodological limitations” that make it impossible to draw clear conclusions about its effectiveness.
The FDA stated in its statement that “some preliminary studies are ongoing,” but the agency has not yet approved the drug for the prevention or treatment of Covid-19.
The FDA also stated that ivermectin preparations for animals are “very different” from ivermectin preparations for humans because animal drugs are highly concentrated to account for their heavier weight.
Friday, Mississippi State Department of Health Alert healthcare providers, Warned them that the Mississippi Poison Control Center received a large number of calls from people who had ingested animal formulas of the drug.
