Ruminations: Dosing on Veterinary DeWormer

"It doesn't just affect the communities that believe in misinformation."
"This is something that's affecting even people who don't have a stake in the vaccine -- it's affecting horses."
Kolina Koltai, researchers, University of Washington, online conspiracy theory studies

Misinformation that suggests the livestock dewormer drug ivermectin can be used to treat COVID-19 has led the Veterinary College at the University of Saskatchewan to change its policy on who it will give a prescription for the drug. (Lone Star Tack & Feed Inc.)

In April of 2020 Melbourne, Australia's Monash University published preliminary findings indicating that when used in a laboratory setting the veterinary product ivermectin could kill the novel coronavirus within a 48-hour period, cautioning at the time that these were early results requiring further research. "Do NOT self-medicate with Ivermectin and do NOT use Ivermectin intended for animals", the university published on its website.

According to the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescriptions for human formulations of ivermectin leaped in number to over 88,000 during the space of one August week, a marked increase from a pre-pandemic baseline of 3,600. Following the university's caution, the F.D.A. issued its own warning against the use of the animal formulations for COVID. But nothing could stop the runaway sensation on social media, particularly with the appearance of other studies (one of which was retracted) indicating beneficial effects from the drug in coronavirus patients.

Veterinarians have been inundated by requests from people seeking both advice and to secure the drug for themselves. Animal feed supply warehouses have watched their supplies of ivermectin dwindle and soon began demanding proof from customers that they require the drug for livestock. In West Point, Mississippi a veterinary center owned by veterinarian Dr.Karen Emerson had a clinical supply of a 500-milliliter bottle of ivermectin, used to kill parasites in dogs, chickens and others of her clinic patients.

When her staff attempted to renew their supply of ivermectin through their usual sources, only a 50-milliliter vial was available, causing the veterinarian to ration the medicine, doling it out to snakes and other exotic animals for which there were no other deworming agents. Dog owners were advised they had the option to pay for an available replacement drug seven times more expensive.

It has been more than a year that misinformation on ivermectin has gone the rounds on social media as an effective treatment or preventive for the coronavirus. Despite that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning that the drug is not approved as a cure for COVID -- warning people not to use it, they contend with media personalities spurning coronavirus vaccines and promoting ivermectin in their stead.

V&V Tack and Feed /KLAS

The rush on the medication has resulted in some people overdosing on formulations of ivermectin, requiring hospital care, stretching doctors' and hospitals' resources unnecessarily at a time when COVID has already shaken the medical care system to the core. These are people who are misconstruing some versions of ivermectin formulated to treat head lice and other ailments afflicting people. Other formulations, liquid or paste, are common within the equine and livestock industries as medications to kill worms and parasites.

Marc Filion, owner of Keegan-Filion Farm in South Carolina uses the drug for his 400 pigs and 25 cattle. Without the availability of ivermectin to treat his pigs when they're five weeks old, they stand the risk of developing diarrhea which could lead to having to slaughter them unnecessarily.

Dr.Emerson in a television interview warned of the dangers of taking ivermectin and the effects shortages could extract on animal welfare. "If I have another flock of chickens with leg mites, I'm not going to able to help them. And then I don't know what we're going to do", Dr.Emerson said, speaking of the 10 milliliters of the drug she has left in her clinic, estimating it could last no more than a month.