A US doctor is urging people to stop taking the horse deworming drug Ivermectin to treat Covid-19.
Patients have been needing urgent treatment at emergency units in Oklahoma hospitals after overdosing on the drug, Delta Covid variant, says.
Small doses of Ivermectin are approved for use on humans, but not for Covid.
He said a “handful” of people overdosing on the drug were putting further strain on hospital staff already stretched by a surge in Covid cases.
“The [emergency rooms] are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated,” he told local broadcaster KFOR earlier this week.
Its use has become so common in the US that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement last month urging people not to take it.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow,” the FDA said, warning that taking large doses of the substance “is dangerous and can cause serious harm”.
This week, the influential podcast host Joe Rogan, who has dismissed vaccines, said he was taking Ivermectin after testing positive for Covid-19.
Dr McElyea said patients who had taken the drug were arriving at hospital with vomiting, muscle aches, and even vision loss.
“You have to ask yourself, ‘If I take this medicine, what am I going to do if something bad happens?’ What’s your next step, what’s your back-up plan? If you’re going to take a medicine that could affect your health, do it with a doctor on board.”
Oklahoma is one of several US states battling the spread of the Delta Covid variant, with 18,438 new cases recorded in the past week.
