Ivermectin treats rosacea, head lice, and parasitic worm infections in humans.
Despite no proof that ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine are effective against COVID-19, a new countrywide survey indicated that around one in twenty U.S. people reported using these medicines to treat the virus.
Thirteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight persons reported having had a COVID-19 infection in the study published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Adults from all 50 of the United States were represented here.
Among the people who took part in the study, 6 percent stated they had treated their illnesses with ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. The FDA has not approved either medication for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2.
In 2020, the FDA allowed hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19 for a short time before rescinding the approval due to clinical tests showing the medicine was unlikely to be effective against the virus and carried specific potentially dangerous adverse effects.
According to research released just last week, there is a “much-increased risk” of resorting to experimental treatments among those who embrace even a single piece of misinformation concerning vaccines.
Those with a higher score on the American Conspiracy Thinking Scale, a higher level of faith in social media, and a higher level of trust in ex-President Trump were also more likely to use these medicines.
Individuals who said they got their news from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or Facebook were also more likely to claim they were given a treatment not supported by scientific evidence.
Overall, the odds of using an antiviral drug not backed by evidence or not licensed by the Food and Drug Administration were up when viewers watched cable news regardless of their political leanings. However, the researchers discovered that “the likelihood of non-evidence-based but not FDA-approved treatment was much increased using Facebook as a news source.”
Researchers discovered that political conservatives were more inclined to support experimental drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, although they stressed that political leaning was not the primary determinant.
The risk of someone utilizing these medications increased due to a combination of factors, including false information about vaccines, distrust in the healthcare system, and conspiracy theories. In the researchers’ words, none of these were adequate “proxies” for political leanings.
