Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection Essay

Introduction

• The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects the health of people.
• The absence of a proper solution has necessitated the need for one.
• Ivermectin is being used for infections caused by SARS-CoV-2.
• However, there is no evidence on the adverse effects of Ivermectin (Plumb, 2018).
• Therefore, this is a proposal to identify the efficiency and threats of Ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

Objectives

1. To analyze research findings on effectiveness and risk factors linked with Ivermectin.
2. To conduct an in-depth literature review on the effects of Ivermectin.
3. To determine the relevance of Ivermectin to the healthcare community struggling with the burden (Plumb, 2018).

Statement of the Problem

• Ivermectin has not been researched effectively.
• It is challenging to formulate clear dosing of Ivermectin.
• The recent discovery of Ivermectin makes it hard to study the long-term effects on the body.
• The effect of Ivermectin on pregnant women and development of a fetus remains unexplored (Plumb, 2018).

Methodology

• The literature review approach will be used in this study.
• It involves using databases like Google Books, PubMed, and Science Direct to obtain sources.
• The sources will be analyzed to draw insights on the effectiveness of the medicine.
• After the analysis, one can deduce the impact of the medicine in treating COVID-19 (Plumb, 2018).

Literature review

1. According to Mohan et al., (2021), COVID-19 has caused more than three million deaths globally.
2. Burgan (2021) and Zein et al. (2021) posits that many people are prone to inflammatory infections.
3. According to WHO (2020), Ivermectin’s possible threat to human health due to undiscovered side effects.

Ivermectin toxicity

• Plumb (2018) claims that Ivermectin does not “readily penetrate into the CSF, reducing its toxicity.
• According to Bryant et al. (2021), Ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no Ivermectin.

Effect of Ivermectin

Landrito (2020) Ivermectin increases the production of interferon and thus, helps the immune system fight the virus.

Safety and effectiveness of Ivermectin

• Cabot (2020) states that laboratory trials have proven the capacity of Ivermectin to inhibit viruses replication as shown in the image.
• In support, Zaheer et al. (2021)identified the positive effects of Ivermectin as a strong agent in fighting against COVID-19.
• Campos et al (2021) stated that there are sufficient evidence on the safety of oral Ivermectin.

Implications

• The findings of this study will help in the current pandemic situation.
• The gaps identified such as correct dosage and long-term effects should be investigate further.
• The findings assists practitioners in understanding the benefits of Ivermectin (Campos et al., 2021).

Limitations

• The findings of the study are bound to previous researches.
• The different aspects of drug effect might affect in-depth analysis of the causes of some risk factors.
• Errors in the sources used adversely affects the findings of the study.

Conclusion

1. The study has shown that Ivermectin is an effective antiviral drug.
2. It was carried out on the basis of scientific articles and reports published within four years.
3. The primary concern of the study was the issue of dosage and effects of Ivermectin.
4. The literature review proved the positive antiviral effect of the Ivermectin.

References

BBC News (2021). Covid-19 deaths don pass three million worldwide. BBC. Web.

Bryant, A., Lawrie, T. A., Dowswell, T., Fordham, E. J., Mitchell, S., Hill, S. R., & Tham, T., C. (2021). Ivermectin for prevention and treatment of Covid-19 infection: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis to inform clinical guidelines. National Library of Medicine, 28(4), 434-460. Web.

Burgan, M. (2021). What is the Coronavirus disease COVID-19? Penguin.

Cabot, S. (2020). Corona and Other Dangerous Viruses. SCB International.

Campos, R. C., Apinaniz, A., Parraza, N., Cordero, J., Garcia, S., Orruno, E. (2021). Potential use of ivermectin for the treatment and prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.) Current Research in Translational Medicine, 69(4).

Choudhary, R., & Sharma, A. K. (2020). Potential use of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and azithromycin drugs in fighting COVID-19: trends, scope and relevance. New microbes and new infections, 35, 100684.

Landrito, A. A. (2020). Freedom from COVID-19 now! Prevention and cure at hand. Oppbooks publishing.

Mansour, S. M., Shamma, N. R., Ahmed, K. A. (2021). Safety of inhaled ivermectin as a repurposed direct drug for treatment of Covid-19: A preclinical tolerance study. International Immunopharmacology, 99(108004).

Mohan, A., Tiwari, P., Suri, T. M., Mittal, S., Patel, A., Jain, A., Velpandian, T. (2021). Single-dose oral ivermectin in mild and moderate COVID-19 (RIVET-COV): a single-centre randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy, 27(12), 1743-1749.

Plumb, D. C. (2018). Plumb’s veterinary drug handbook: Pocket. John Wiley & Sons.

Rezaie, S. (2021).COVID-19 Update: Ivermectin. REBEL EM – Emergency Medicine Blog.Web.

World Health Organization. (2020). Residue evaluation of certain veterinary drugs: Joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives. Food & Agriculture Org.

Zaheer, T., Pal, K., Abbas, R. Z., Torres, M. P. (2021). COVID-19 and Ivermectin: Potential threats associated with human use. Journal of Molecular Structure. 5 (1243:130808). Web.

Zein, A. F., Sulistiyana, S. C., Raffaelo, W. M., Pranata, R. (2021). Ivermectin and mortality in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 15(4).