Our good friend Ivermectin is in the news again, this time related to the topic on everyone’s lips – coronavirus. A just published article in Antiviral Research, described here in Warning issued as researchers reveal another potential treatment for coronavirus details that Ivermectin has been found to be effective again coronavirus in the laboratory. Previously Ivermectin has been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, dengue, influenza and zika.
We know that Ivermectin is a very useful drug indeed. We know from this paper that topical ivermectin is effective because of its
- antimicrobial,
- antiparasitic,
- antibacterial, and
- anti-inflammatory activities.
Ivermectin has become well known to rosacea sufferers as a topical treatment for rosacea. The prescription treatment Soolantra contains 1% Ivermectin and has been found to be effective against the papules and pustules of rosacea.
How does Ivermectin stop coronavirus?
Although the mechanism by which Ivermectin works on the virus is not known, it is likely, based on its action in other viruses, that it works to stop the virus “dampening down” the host cells’ ability to clear it, Dr Wagstaff said.
There is good reason to not get too excited as the article warns us that “the experiments were in a Petri dish and not in people, and studies took a long time to progress to clinical treatments. “.
