Ivermectin Didn’t Reduce Covid-19 Hospitalizations in Largest Trial to Date
Ivermectin works because the first trials were done in developing economies where the average person had a high chance of parasitic infections. The steroids used as a standard front-line treatment for severe COVID decreases the immune response to parasites, allowing them to multiply unchecked. This killed patients indirectly, but <i>dead is dead</i>, and they "checked in" with COVID, not parasite complaints.<p>Ivermectin is a wildly effective anti-parasitic, so unsurprisingly it reduces mortality rates in countries where the endemic parasite infection rate is something like 50 percent.<p>This study appears to have been done in Canada, where parasite infection rates in the general population are probably 1% or less. Hence... no demonstrable benefit to using Ivermectin!<p>Nonetheless, Ivermectin is safe drug to take in normal doses, and <i>will</i> help people that are hospitalised with COVID and are given steroids.<p>It's not a prophylactic and high doses are not a treatment for COVID itself.<p>The misunderstandings around this drug stem from misunderstandings of basic statistics and the scientific method. This is why you shouldn't get your medical advice from Joe Rogan.