COVID Patient Overdoses On Horse De-Wormer Ivermectin Bought Online

A COVID-19 patient ended up in hospital after overdosing on a livestock dewormer Ivermectin, widely used on farm animals like cows and horses. The patient, who has not been identified, was left with severe vomiting and diarrhea.

The patient, from Sydney in Australia, had ordered ivermectin and other supposed COVID-19 "cures" online, reported The Guardian.

"Thankfully they didn’t develop severe toxicity but it didn’t help their COVID either," said Westmead Hospital toxicologist Associate Professor Naren Gunja in Western Sydney Local Health District’s website The Pulse.

"There’s no evidence to support the use of Ivermectin to treat Covid-19. Don’t look for magic cures online, and don’t rely on what’s being peddled on the internet, because none of them work," Gunja added.

Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication, is approved for use in Australia for medical issues such as river blindness, scabies and roundworm infections.

However, post-COVID outbreak, the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia detected an increase in the importation of the drug, following which it issued a warning. "The TGA strongly discourages self-medication and self-dosing with Ivermectin for COVID-19 as it may be dangerous to your health. There is insufficient evidence to validate the use of ivermectin in patients with COVID-19," the authorities said.

In the U.S. too, Ivermectin was lauded as a miracle treatment for COVID-19, but infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci had warned people against taking it. "Don’t do it. There is no evidence whatsoever that that works," said Dr. Fauci.

He revealed people may end up harming themselves rather than treating a COVID-19 infection. "And it could potentially have toxicity, as you just mentioned, with people who have gone to poison control centers because they’ve taken the drug at a ridiculous dose and wind up getting sick," he explained.

However, an Ohio woman, whose husband was hospitalized with COVID-19, won a court order last week to have the Cincinnati-area hospital treat her husband with his "prescribed Ivermectin."

Judge Gregory Howard, a Common Pleas judge in Butler County, ordered West Chester Hospital to treat Jeffrey Smith, 51, with Ivermectin. The order, filed on Aug. 23, will allow Smith to be administered 30 milligrams of Ivermectin daily for three weeks.