Summary
The Covid-19 pandemic has reached unprecedented proportions; the number of cases exceeded two hundred million. Coronaviruses are the reason for sneezing and coughs but may lead to severe consequences (Burgan, 2021). Until now, a truly effective method of complete treatment or prevention of the disease has not been determined. According to Campos et al. (2021), currently, no treatment has been approved as an effective one. Hassanien (2021) states that modern technologies have a significant impact on the development of treating diseases. Thus, nowadays, scientists are studying the effect of Ivermectin on Covid-19 disease, and results show that it can be potentially useful. However, the problem is researchers’ uncertainty about it consequences on human organisms.
Main problem
The main issue is that Ivermectin is not properly studied, and its usage can lead to unpredictable consequences. It is a problem because this drug may have some negative long-term effects on humans. Initially, it was used to deal with parasites, usually with other drugs, to increase its effect (World Health Organization, 2020). Its main mechanism is formulated by causing the paralysis of parasites and their death. It occurs due to the release of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which blocks post-synaptic stimulation of the arthropod muscles (Plumb, 2018). The single oral dose of Ivermectin results in sustained suppression of such infections as Mansonella streptocerca and Mansonella ozzardi (Bennet et al., 2019). Its main features are now considered to be effective against Covid-19; however, one can not formulate precise dosing, which is the main problem today.
When dealing with viruses, the human organism uses its immune cells to fight against infection. One of the main mechanisms of immune reaction to viruses is interferon. Research has shown that Ivermectin increases interferon production and strengthens its effects (Landrito, 2020). This action of the drug can be helpful in the fight against Covid 19 as it helps the body in the fight against the virus. The increased release of interferon leads to an increase in the body’s immune response and a more effective fight against the symptoms of the disease. This is formulated by its effective antiviral activity, along with a broad spectrum of antiparasitic properties (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2020). Such features can lead to revolutionary methods of treating and preventing Covid-19 disease.
Statistics
Nowadays, researchers are actively testing Ivermectin and its antiviral properties. Some laboratory tests discovered that Ivermectin inhibits the SARS-Cov-2 virus in vitro (Cabot, 2020). This formulates the highest priority of its testing as it can be a potential solution to the coronavirus issue. Other testing shows that Ivermectin is effective in the context of decreasing risk. According to Bryant et al. (2021), the research shows that a “Meta-analysis of 15 trials found that Ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no ivermectin”. This means that on the basis of actual evidence, one may observe the palpable effect of the drug.
According to the latest research, the prevalence rate of Covid-19 was 26.7% in serology and 4.04% in RT-PCR, with an incidence level of approximately 650 thousand of new cases (World Health Organization, 2020). Ivermectin could change the situation, though one of the main issues is formulated by the uncertainty of researchers concerning its dosage. The problem is that too small an amount of Ivermectin may lead to the absence of any result; on the other hand, too big a dose may lead to severe negative consequences. Although, there is some testing related to this issue as well. “This study also demonstrated the safety of different doses of inhaled ivermectin formulation with the recommendation that lower doses, namely, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg can be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19.” (Mansour et al., 2021). Any studies are characterized by placebo testing, which helps to show actual results, excluding possible seeming results. “In patients with mild and moderate COVID-19, Ivermectin did not significantly increase either the negativity of RT-PCR or decline in viral load at day 5 of enrolment compared with placebo” (Mohan, 2021).
One of the most important mechanisms in any study concerning actual results of possible effects of the drug is meta-analysis. The recent research aimed to investigate the effect of Ivermectin on the mortality level of patients with Covid-19 has been based on a comprehensive systematic literature search performed using PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. It has revealed that Ivermectin was associated with decreased mortality as there were 9 RCTs comprising of 1788 patients included in this meta-analysis (Zein, et al. 2021).
The problem of studying this drug and its possible actions remain relevant. The question is that his recent discovery makes it impossible to study the long-term effects on the body. The potential toxicity and careful dosage analyses are urgently required before declaring it as an anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug candidate (Zaheer, 2021). Also, the effect of the drug on pregnant women, as well as its possible consequences on the development of the fetus, remains unexplored. Its potential positive effect on the course of the disease articulates the need for high priority in further research.
Literature review
As a result, one can notice that this drug could be a turning point in the fight of humanity against the Covid-19 pandemic. In the paper, the literature review approach is adopted, namely the collection of relevant literature. This includes searching the relevant information in such databases as Google Books, PubMed, and Science Direct. After analyzing the data, one can conclude that most of the Ivermectin testing results are positive, which testifies to the effectiveness in the fight against the virus at the cellular level. Moreover, the property of Ivermectin has been proven, which consists in an increased release of interferon, which is a key factor in the fight against any virus.
References
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