Rutgers Doctor Warns Against Use Of Ivermectin For COVID-19

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A Rutgers professor who also runs the emergency department at University Hospital in Newark is warning people against taking ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.

Ivermectin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to remove internal and external parasites in both humans and animals. In humans, it has been given orally to remove intestinal parasites, and topically to treat conditions such as head lice and scabies. In veterinary medicine, it has been used to deworm livestock.

It is not, however, authorized or approved by the FDA to treat the coronavirus.

But for months now, ivermectin has been used by some as an off-label, experimental treatment. Its success fighting COVID-19 has been touted by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and FOX News hosts such as Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking ivermectin orders, and more than 88,000 prescriptions for it had been filled across the nation for the week ending Aug. 13.

That is compared with to just 3,900 ivermectin prescriptions filled nationwide in an average week pre-pandemic.

Rutgers professor Dr. Lewis Nelson, who chairs the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers medical school and oversees the Emergency Department at University Hospital, strongly cautions against it, as does the CDC.

"It is inexplicable that anyone would use ivermectin, an unproven and potentially dangerous substance, to treat a disease that is nearly preventable with a safe and proven FDA-approved vaccine," Nelson said.

However, at the same time judges have ordered hospitals outside Chicago and Rochester, NY to administer ivermectin to COVID patients who are on ventilators and have been given slim odds of surviving. Read about one of those cases in The Buffalo News: 2nd WNY hospital ordered to treat Covid-19 patient with experimental drug

A judge just ruled similarly Aug. 30 in Ohio, after a woman sued to have a hospital there prescribe ivermectin to her husband, who is currently fighting for his life on a ventilator. Read that on the Ohio Capital Journal: Judge orders Cinci hospital to treat COVID-19 patient with Ivermectin, despite CDC warnings You can read that woman's lawsuit here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rfzt...

On Aug. 26, the CDC issued this warning about ivermectin. In addition to tracking the ivermectin prescription surge, the agency said it has been monitoring dangerous side effects and noted an increase in calls to poison control centers reporting ivermectin overdoses. Some of the side effects from self-medicating with ivermectin can be a coma, seizures and death, said both the CDC and FDA in late August.

Calls to poison control centers about ivermectin increased fivefold from August to July, according to CDC data published in the The New York Times.

There have been no cases of ivermectin overdoses in New Jersey yet, he said. Most of the reports have been in the South. At least two people were hospitalized in Mississippi in August after they took livestock formula of ivermectin.

Nelson said people should be more scared of ivermectin's side effects than the vaccines' side effects.

"Concerns over rare and generally minor adverse effects from the various COVID-19 vaccines cannot be compared to developing the disease or the suffering some of the known adverse effects of the various unproven treatments that have been popularized," he said.

There is currently insufficient data to recommend it as an official COVID-19 treatment, according to the National Institutes of Health and CDC.

There have been a few clinical trials and observational studies to evaluate the use of ivermectin to prevent and treat COVID-19 in humans, but they "yielded insufficient evidence for the NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel to recommend its use," said the CDC, which said the trials need to be larger and more organized.

"Data from adequately sized, well-designed, and well-conducted clinical trials are needed to provide more specific, evidence-based guidance on the role of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19," said the agency.

Nelson also dismissed the idea, floated by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that ivermectin trials are not being done for political reasons.

"The idea that the entire medical establishment would withhold an effective therapy given the devastation the disease has unleashed on the world is not supported by any reasonable evidence," he said.

According to the CDC, in the year before the pandemic hit, U.S. pharmacies nationwide dispensed an average of 3,600 ivermectin prescriptions per week. By the week ending Jan. 8, 2021, that has skyrocketed to 39,000 prescriptions per week.

The number slowly began to die down but then shot back up again in early July, said the CDC, as ivermectin prescriptions again rapidly increased, reaching more than 88,000 prescriptions in the week ending Aug. 13.

The amount of ivermectin sent by mail order was not even included in that prescription tracking, so the number is likely much higher.

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