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New Mexico’s health leaders are sounding the alarm on ivermectin. Poison Control said there had been 20 exposures to the drug this year alone – already double the usual amount.
“We’ve had cases of seizures, hallucinations, coma, you know it can be very dangerous if you take a high enough dose,” said Susan Smolinske, director of the New Mexico Drug and Information Center.
Officials say the majority of these exposures have occurred in the past few weeks alone, and most of them to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Health experts say the data just isn’t there to prove it works.
“Our medical advisory team looked at this 3 times – still don’t think people should take it and of course the FDA hasn’t approved it yet,” Scrase said.
Ivermectin is almost exclusively used to treat parasites in horses and cattle and, in rare cases, humans.
“Same drug, different formulation, different dose,” said Scrase. “If you take too much, you fall into a coma, you can have seizures, you can hallucinate, it’s basically a neurological toxin.”
Recent studies have shown that it has some effect on COVID-19, but at a fairly significant cost.
“When combined with standard treatment, it had a lower death rate and progression to serious disease. But in this in vitro study, you needed clearly toxic doses to achieve this effect on virus replication. “said Smolinske.
But health officials are urging people to stick with what has already been shown to be safe and effective.
“Don’t take something that doesn’t have data to prevent a disease, where we have effective preventative therapies for that disease. We have vaccines, we have masks, we have social distancing, we know these things work, ”Smolinske said.
Health officials urge people to stay away from drugs.
If you or someone you know has taken ivermectin, we encourage you to call New Mexico Poison Control at 1- (800) -222-1222.
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