The active drug found in shampoos used to treat lice—ivermectin—has been shown to be able to produce a 5,000-fold reduction in COVID virus replication.
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Supporting evidence
In various research conducted at the onset of the pandemic last year, trials from around the world have suggested that the main ingredient in nit shampoo has potent anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.
In particular, when it comes to the treatment of the coronavirus, ivermectin was found to be an effective way of treating cases not severe enough for hospital treatment—a large majority of all reported cases.
Medical director of the Centre for Digestive Diseases in Sydney, Thomas Borody, co-signed alongside 56 other international experts, a study concluding that when combined withzinc and antibiotic doxycycline, ivermectin was remarkably effective. Dr. Borody further explained that his findings were not singular—other researchers had successfully used the drug to treat COVID:
It looks like coronavirus is very simple to kill. There are a number of studies that are amazingly successful—we're talking close to 100 per cent.
Apprehension by the WHO
However, although the WHO believes ivermectin is worth investigating further, it has not given it the green light to be prescribed as its effectiveness in reducing death rates and avoiding hospitalisation are still unclear. This is primarily due to the low number of patients in the studies as well as concerns of risk of toxicity.
Still, this has not dissuaded some medical experts to stand by the drug as an effective treatment to prevent acute cases of COVID-19. John McCarthy, a GP from Lancashire, says he's been researching it for a number of months:
I've been taking it since December to reduce the risk of getting COVID. I'm also giving it to members of my family. It's a very strange situation—it's incredibly hard to get hold of it here but I have advised people abroad about using it and had good responses.
Dr Andrew Hill, a senior research fellow in pharmacology and therapeutics at Liverpool University, believes the drug could be revolutionary in treating the deadly virus and hopes for it to soon be available to the public:
I hope ivermectin works but we need to prove it to a regulatory standard so it can be approved.
