Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, different therapeutic approaches have been explored to fight the disease. Various drugs with unpronounceable names have been acclaimed in the fight against the coronavirus. The latest: Ivermectin
Hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir or even "zebra". There are many drug avenues to have been explored by the scientific community in an attempt to fight against the spread of the coronavirus epidemic. “Miracle solutions” regularly taken up by those opposed to vaccination or to the health policy carried out by the government. For lack of results or lack of perspective they were all rejected by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A molecule studied on animals last July
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur have studied in the laboratory the impact of a molecule, ivermectin, on the clinical symptoms of Covid-19 in an animal model and more precisely on hamsters. Ivermectin is a molecule marketed as an antiparasitic treatment and studied for the treatment of other diseases. The authors of the study have shown that taking this drug at standard doses "makes it possible to reduce the symptoms and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in an animal model" explains the Institut Pasteur in a press release. dated July 07, 2021.
The "protective" action of ivermectin
The results of the study reveal that ivermectin acts on the modulation of the immune response in animal models infected with SARS-CoV-2 and thus reduces inflammation in the respiratory tract. This immunomodulatory effect is involved in reducing the appearance of symptoms of the disease. Researchers have also shown that the molecule reduces the risk of loss of smell. However, they observed that ivermectin treatment did not act on viral replication of SARS-CoV-2. “Surprisingly, we observed that treatment with ivermectin did not limit viral replication, the treated and untreated models had similar amounts of viral load in the nasal cavity and in the lungs. Our results show that ivermectin has an immunomodulatory and not an antiviral effect ”comments Guilherme Dias de Melo, researcher in the Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology unit and first author of the study.
Conclusive human trials in Israel
On Monday, August 2, the Jerusalem Post echoed a study, commissioned by Professor Eli Schwartz, an Israeli scientist, which tends to prove that ivermectin could significantly reduce the transmission of the coronavirus. Professor Eli Schwartz, founder of the Tel Aviv Center for Geographic Medicine and Tropical Diseases, conducted a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial (neither the doctor, the caregivers nor the patient know whether the latter is receiving the drug or the placebo) on 89 volunteers, positive for Covid-19, from May 15, 2020 to the end of January 2021. Divided into two groups, half of the patients received ivermectin for three days in a row, one hour before the meal, and the other half a placebo. After six days, 72% of volunteers treated with ivermectin tested negative, compared with 50% of those given placebo. Importantly, only 13% of patients treated with the drug were found to be infectious after six days, compared to 50% of the placebo group. “Our study shows first and foremost that ivermectin has antiviral activity, but also that there is a 100% chance that a person will be non-infectious within four to six days, which could lead to a shortening of the time to isolation and have a huge economic and social impact, ”said Professor Schwartz, although the study has not yet been peer reviewed. Also note that the study did not prove that ivermectin was effective as a prophylactic, which means that it could prevent disease or reduce the risk of hospitalization, warned the professor. For its part, the WHO explains that “The current data on the use of ivermectin to treat patients with COVID-19 are not conclusive. Until more data are available, the WHO recommends that this drug be administered only in clinical trials ”.
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