Horse dewormer shouldn’t be used to treat COVID, SLO County feed stores warn customers
If you visit a farm or animal supply store in San Luis Obispo County, you may be greeted with a sign warning against buying a horse dewormer to use as a COVID-19 treatment.
That’s because some people — especially those wary of the COVID-19 vaccine — have been touting ivermectin, an active ingredient in some dewormers, as a treatment for the virus.
Signs on shelves in the dewormer aisle at Farm Supply in San Luis Obispo warn, “Ivermectin is for ANIMAL USE ONLY and is nonrefundable.”
So why are people buying drugs intended for livestock?
Anti-vaccine groups falsely tout ivermectin as COVID treatment
There are human versions of the drug that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved to treat parasites. Doctors prescribe ivermectin in pill form for internal parasites and in topical form for lice and rosacea, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health advisory said.
But anti-vaccine Reddit and Facebook groups have been pushing ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment, citing a retracted, non-peer-reviewed study of the drug that looked into using it for that purpose, NBC News reported.
The CDC’s health advisory, published on Aug. 26, warned against using ivermectin to treat COVID-19. Poison control centers throughout the country saw a “three-fold increase in the number of calls for human exposures to ivermectin in January 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic baseline,” the advisory said.
“Ivermectin is not authorized or approved by FDA for prevention or treatment of COVID-19,” the advisory said. “The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel has also determined that there are currently insufficient data to recommend ivermectin for treatment of COVID-19. ClinicalTrials.gov has listings of ongoing clinical trials that might provide more information about these hypothesized uses in the future.”
Pharmacies see uptick in ivermectin prescriptions
Despite its advice, the CDC reported a 24-fold spike in prescriptions for the drug during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outpatient retail pharmacies in the United States dispensed an average of 3,600 prescriptions of ivermectin per week from March 16, 2019, through March 13, 2020.
The week of Jan. 8, 2021, U.S. pharmacies filled 39,000 prescriptions for ivermectin, which was the peak until the week of Aug. 13, 2021, when they filled 88,000 prescriptions.
Some San Luis Obispo County pharmacists have also seen an uptick in ivermectin prescriptions. Even so, some reported their suppliers are no longer providing them with the drug, and some were hesitant to fill prescriptions because they’re concerned about getting in trouble with regulatory boards.
Dr. Sumanta Paul, pharmacist at Morro Bay Drug & Gifts, said he used to get prescriptions for ivermectin “every once in a while” before the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two weeks, however, he’s gotten seven to 10 prescriptions.
Paul said he’s gotten calls from people checking with pharmacies to see if they’re carrying ivermectin. Most of those he’s talked to are not his usual patients, and they’re seeking the drug as a preventive measure against COVID-19.
The pharmacy doesn’t currently have ivermectin in stock, as the primary wholesaler has not been supplying it, Paul said.
Ivermectin-seekers turn to animal drugs to get around restrictions
To get around restrictions on the human form of ivermectin, some people have turned to buying versions created for animals. These pastes, pour-ons and injectables can be highly concentrated and “may also contain inactive ingredients that have not been evaluated for use in humans,” the CDC advisory said.
But ivermectin products for use in horses and livestock are also frequently available at animal feed stores, especially in rural areas like the Central Coast.
The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine on Aug. 30 issued a letter to to veterinarians and animal health product retailers warning them of “concerns that there are people using animal formulations of ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 in humans.”
“Even if animal drugs have the same active ingredient as an approved human drug, animal drugs have not been evaluated for safety or effectiveness in humans,” the FDA letter said. “Treating human medical conditions with veterinary drugs can be very dangerous. The drug may not work at all, or it could worsen the illness and/or lead to serious, potentially life-threatening health complications.”
The agency provided a warning sign for retailers to download and post in their stores, complete with QR codes that link to an FDA FAQ and consumer advisory about ivermectin.
SLO County stores issue ivermectin warnings, limit sales
Farm Supply began putting up the FDA sign and posting its own warnings a couple of weeks ago, after hearing about the new guidelines, said Cara Crye, Farm Supply CEO.
Leslie Schmitz, assistant manager at Tractor Supply in Paso Robles, said she hasn’t noticed an uptick in people purchasing ivermectin animal products. However, people have told her anecdotally about using ivermectin paste or injecting it as a COVID-19 treatment.
“It’s crazy to hear the stories,” Schmitz said.
Atascadero Hay and Feed has seen a rise in demand for ivermectin products, and some suppliers even have them on back-order, said Theresa Harrison, an associate at the store.
“Our sales have increased a little bit,” she said. “We have had to put it behind the counter a couple of times.”
Atascadero Hay and Feed has customers who use the dewormers for their horses and livestock, and staff is trying to keep ivermectin products in stock for those who need them, Harrison said.
The store has had to limit sales of dewormer, especially to unfamiliar customers who request multiple quantities of products, she said.
“We’re a small store — we know our regular customers,” Harrison said.
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SLO County doctors: Ivermectin ‘not effective’
Some San Luis Obispo County doctors are even witnessing patients ask for ivermectin and other debunked products as COVID-19 treatments once they’re already in the hospital with the virus.
The Tribune asked Public Health officials and doctors at an Aug. 31 news conference if they’d seen people seeking ivermectin or similar products that the FDA hasn’t approved for use against the virus.
Dr. Trees Ritter, chief medical officer for Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, said they’re “unfortunately seeing people, and some of them are quite demanding in their desire for these medications that really don’t treat COVID.”
Ritter explained the data some people are looking at is taken from studies in which researchers look at a “very, very high concentration” of ivermectin or other substances and observe the viruses aren’t growing on them.
“But I would argue that if you put a concentration of apple juice or coffee or aspirin or a number of other things, if you put the concentration high enough, there’s going to be no viral growth,” Ritter said.
“And when they’ve looked at these studies in people, at dosing that is tolerable to the human, there is no effect,” Ritter continued. “And unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation out there, and people like simple answers. They like to think that there’s a magic pill out there, that they get the cheat codes, that they can figure this out and not have to get sick from it. And if that were the case, we would be giving it. But it is not effective.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 1:55 PM.
