PHILADELPHIA, Miss.–You might’ve read on the internet or seen on Facebook some recommendations that you take Ivermectin to prevent coronavirus or cure it. The state Dept. of health says that’s a bad idea.
“When you talk about an Ivermectin medication for a horse or a cow, these are highly concentrated compared to what humans can tolerate,” said Dr. Paul Byers, state epidemiologist in an online meeting with the American Medical Assoc., Mississippi chapter.
Some doctors offices in central Mississippi have been reporting people coming in sick because they’ve gone to the co-op or some other store and gotten animal medication made from ivermectin and taken it.
The Miss. Dept. of Health reports at least one hospitalization because of Ivermectin, which is commonly used to worm horses or dogs.
“No oversight, no FDA approval. There’s no FDA studies on those,” said Byers. “Those are animal medications and they’re very high concentrations that may lead to toxicity. And, Ivermectin hasn’t shown any benefit.”
Byers says trust your doctor, not the internet or Facebook posts.
