Experts warn against illegal use of ivermectin

While messages abound on social media advising people to take the drug ivermectin to treat Covid-19 symptoms or prevent themselves from getting the virus, health experts have warned against the illegal use of the drug.

General practitioner Dr Lerato Masemola said many people who were consuming ivermectin still ended up in hospital.

She said there were also many side effects to consider, including nausea and vomiting, abdominal pains, fatigue, sleeping too much, elevated liver enzymes, heart palpitations and other cardiac side effects.

She said some of the people she had spoken to told her they got it “on the streets”.

Masemola clarified that ivermectin is predominantly used to treat animal medical conditions. “It has also been approved to be used as treatment of certain other conditions … such as Covid-19 infection, where it has been shown to reduce the virus multiplying itself and spreading in the body,” she said. – Somaya Stockenstroom