[kwlug-disc] Ivermectin

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

In another thread, Ivermectin was mentioned:

Show me the official fact checkers who have a nuanced
> view of ivermectin.  I wish that the mainstream fact checkers
> had your view on digging for information and showing it.
>

There is no nuance here: Ivermectin does not work against COVID-19 in any
way.

I have a pharmacy degree and was licensed decades ago, but switched after
a few months to the new fangled computer thing. So like any non-specialist,
I lookup information and see if it is backed by evidence, under rigorous
controlled
testing conditions, or not. If not, there is not weight to the claim.

It is just like Hydroxychloroquine: what works against a certain pathogen
or disease at a given dose, at does not work for other pathogens or
conditions
at a different dose. Viruses and intestinal worms have very different
biologies
and modes of infections (one is inside the cells, the other is outside, for
one).

One example with dire consequences is thalidomide. It was used as a
painkiller
(like Tylenol), then its use was expanded for morning sickness for pregnant
women.
The result was babies were born with incomplete hands or feet. Canada, the
UK and
Europe allowed that use with disastrous results. In the USA, one Dr.
Frances Oldham
Kelsey who worked for the FDA refused to approve the drug, and stuck to her
position
that the company must submit safety data, despite pressure from superiors.

Oh, and she was Canadian too ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykeREfe1Jpc

The proponents of HCQ and Ivermectin are stuck in a narrative that vaccines
are not needed, and there are cheap drugs that work, but there is a
conspiracy
that big pharma backed by governments who don't want us to know the truth.

This video is from the early days of Ivermectin, and from the doctor who
testified to the US Congress that it works. The debunker uses proper
"evidence
based methodology" to debunk it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6CJFQ_Xr7A

The claimed evidence that it works first came from a study at Benha
University
(a small university in Egypt). Sadly, it turned out that the data was
entirely fabricated.
So not just an error, but scientific fraud. The paper was retracted.

https://grftr.news/why-was-a-major-study-on-ivermectin-for-covid-19-just-retracted/

Subsequent proper studies show no evidence of any benefit:

For example, this is a paper showing no reduction in hospitalization. It is
a draft
submitted to the British Medical Journal June 2022, and perhaps published
now.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.10.22276252v1

The quote is: "... resulted in less than one day of shortening of symptoms
and did
not lower incidence of hospitalization or death among outpatients with
COVID-19"

Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in Aug 2022,
and
testing several cheap available medicines concludes:

"None of the three medications that were evaluated prevented the occurrence
of
hypoxemia, an emergency department visit, hospitalization, or death
associated
with Covid-19."

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201662

Oh, and we know that cheap medicines do work for COVID-19 in certain cases.
And they are being used too ...

Pre-Omicron, the variants (Delta was the worst) attacked the lower
respiratory
tract (bronchus, alveoli) causing pneumonia. Thankfully, Omicron attacks the
upper respiratory tract (nose, pharynx, larynx), so pneumonia is not an
issue,
though long COVID is still a significant risk.

Dexamethasone is a generic drug that is very cheap, and is administered when
a COVID-19 patient transitions from the viral phase (first week) to the
early
inflammatory phase (2nd week), where it is the immune system that is causing
the damage, not the virus itself. The sign to give dexamethasone is reduced
blood oxygen which can be measured by an oximeter (the thing that clips on
the finger). Dexamethasone reduces the inflammation and hopefully patients
recover from pneumonia.

What happens when the same drug that saves lives is administered at the
wrong
time? Disaster! In India, doctors were too aggressive and gave dexamethasone
(or other corticosteroids) in the first week, suppressing the immune
system, and
there were lots of cases of black fungus which killed tissues around the
nose and
eye, permanently disfiguring some people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57897682

So no, neither HCQ nor Ivermectin do any good for COVID-19 ...
And yes, vaccines are our best shot, followed by Paxlovid, and perhaps one
or two
monoclonal antibodies that did not have their efficacy reduced by viral
mutations.

Note: for Paxlovid and the monoclonals, they do require proper timing, and
must be
given in the first few days, otherwise it will do no good at all. The same
goes for
Tamiflu against influenza.

-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
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