Special to WorldTribune, May 11, 2021
By R. Clinton Ohlers
Researchers in a study just published in the American Journal of Therapeutics announce, “Ivermectin should be globally and systematically deployed in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.”
They found that ivermectin is effective for every possible application against the disease, reporting that it increases survival rates, shortens time to recovery regardless of what stage of the illness it is administered, and if taken as a preventative beforehand it reduces the likelihood of contracting the virus.
The authors also noted ivermectin’s “long-standing safety record, low cost, and wide availability.”
This may come as further good news for many.
As Americans continue to contract the disease, albeit in fewer numbers, many prefer options to a vaccine while those who currently have the disease are too late to benefit from vaccination. At the same time, increasing numbers of states seek to normalize commerce and education, while citizens look for a return to normal life altogether.
Related: Frontline doctors prescribe ivermectin to treat Covid-19, March 25, 2021
The article, entitled “Review of the Emerging Evidence Demonstrating the Efficacy of Ivermectin in the Prophylaxis and Treatment of COVID-19,” appeared in the May-June edition. The authors reviewed “published peer-reviewed studies, manuscripts posted to preprint servers, expert meta-analyses, and numerous epidemiological analyses of regions with ivermectin distribution campaigns.”
Examining government initiatives internationally, they report ivermectin lead “to rapid population-wide decreases in morbidity and mortality.”
Ivermectin is “effective in all phases of Covid-19” when taken orally.
The drug also “significantly reduced risks of contracting Covid-19 with the regular use,” the authors reported, referring to its use a preventative among those yet to contact the disease.
The authors also report good news for Covid-19 “long haulers.”
They found evidence that ivermectin may bring rapid relief to the approximately 10 to 30 percent of patients who become “long haulers” beset with a “chronic and sometimes disabling constellation of symptoms which include, in order, fatigue, shortness of breath, joint pains, and chest pain,” as well as patient reports of “impaired memory and concentration, often with extreme fatigue.”
One study on treatment of “long haulers” out of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, which the authors write deserves further study. Administering ivermectin to patients who still had symptoms four to twelve weeks after their first onset, Peruvian doctors reported “in 87.9 percent of the patients, resolution of all symptoms was observed after 2 doses with an additional 7 percent reporting complete resolution after additional doses.”
The authors list almost a dozen research findings supporting use of the drug:
1. Since 2012, multiple in vitro studies have demonstrated that ivermectin inhibits the replication of many viruses, including influenza, Zika, Dengue, and others.
2. Ivermectin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication and binding to host tissue through several observed and proposed mechanisms.
3. Ivermectin has potent anti-inflammatory properties with in vitro data demonstrating profound inhibition of both cytokine production and transcription of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), the most potent mediator of inflammation.
4. Ivermectin significantly diminishes viral load and protects against organ damage in multiple animal models when infected with SARS-CoV-2 or similar coronaviruses.
5. Ivermectin prevents transmission and development of COVID-19 disease in those exposed to infected patients.
6. Ivermectin hastens recovery and prevents deterioration in patients with mild to moderate disease treated early after symptoms.
7. Ivermectin hastens recovery and avoidance of ICU admission and death in hospitalized patients.
8. Ivermectin reduces mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19.
9. Ivermectin leads to temporally associated reductions in case fatality rates in regions after ivermectin distribution campaigns.
10. The safety, availability, and cost of ivermectin are nearly unparalleled given its low incidence of important drug interactions along with only mild and rare side effects observed in almost 40 years of use and billions of doses administered.
11. The World Health Organization has long included ivermectin on its “List of Essential Medicines.”
The authors note that the National Institutes of Health's most recent recommendation was last updated on Feb. 11, when the NIH stated “there was insufficient evidence to recommend for or against ivermectin in Covid-19.”
They respond that “the continued challenges faced by healthcare providers in deciding on appropriate therapeutic interventions in patients with Covid-19 would be greatly eased if more updated and commensurate evidence-based guidance came from the leading governmental health care agencies.”
R. Clinton Ohlers, PhD is a historian of science and religion and a contributing editor for the FreePressMediaGroup. Previously, he held the position of Research Assistant Professor in the Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His book, The Birth of the Conflict Between Science and Religion, is scheduled for publication in 2022. His PhD in history is from the University of Pennsylvania.
