EditorialEditorial
The world is currently facing a great challenge of the current
COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the world’s population and
affected all aspects of life including health and economic affairs.
This forced many countries to take measures, including preventing
popular gatherings and aspects of life in clubs, universities and
schools, and closing their borders, in addition to taking physical
distancing measures and wearing face masks to prevent the spread
of infection [1]. In this regard, we tried to investigate the effect of
ivermectin as a prophylaxis in close contacts of confirmed cases
of COVID-19. This depended on some previous reports about
potentiality of the medication against viruses and our noticing of its
effect in treating or reducing infections among patients particularly
those in the early stages of the disease. Furthermore, it is previously
approved by WHO and US FDA as a safe drug having no serious
reported side effects. Moreover, it has been used previously on
large scales for mass prophylaxis against some parasitic diseases
such as filariasis in epidemic areas.
Then, we have registered the first clinical trial allover the
world in this regard by date of May 2020 after taking the institute
approval and; thereafter, a consent was provided from the
participants whom in close contact of cases after discussing the
trial and clarifying that it’s the first investigation all over the world
[2,3]. Then, more than 65 clinical trials and studies have been
done. Nearly, all of them proved positive results of ivermectin use
not only for prophylaxis but also in treatment of COVID-19 disease
[4]. Moreover, another meta-analysis study proved efficacy of
ivermectin for combating the current pandemic [5,6]. Ivermectin
is a safe, non-expensive and available drug. It has been previously
approved by US FDA as a well-tolerable safe drug used previously
for treatment and even mass prophylaxis of several parasitic drugs.
It has been investigated in the current pandemic and proved a
high effectiveness for chemoprophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2. Use
of ivermectin can provide temporary protection that is not longterm
immunity as occurs with a vaccine. Therefore, its use may
be repeated. Ivermectin could be one of the hopes for ending the
current dilemma of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic if used properly under
medical supervision [7,8].
It can be used for mass prophylaxis of the whole population
at the same time especially for poor and middle-income countries
that do not have the facilities to deliver good effective vaccines.
Otherwise, it can be used as an emergency in case of exposure or
contact with the patient and even used at the onset of infection.
However, it may not be useful in treating severe cases because the
virus can cause many organs to fail [9,10]. We recommend further
studies to confirm the effectiveness of ivermectin in preventing
COVID-19 rather than dismiss it on the basis of insufficient evidence. Studying is very easy, does not take much time and does
not cause economic or health burden. This also does not require
special equipment or abilities except for volunteers to join through
the investigation.
References
- Ahmad FK, He Z, King GL (2005) Molecular targets of diabetic cardiovascular complications. Curr Drug Targets 6(4): 487-494.
- Bharatam PV, Patel DS, Adane L, Mittal A, Sundriyal S (2007) Modeling and informatics in designing anti-diabetic agents. Curr Pharm Des 13(34): 3518-3530.
- Bagust A, Beale S (2005) Modelling EuroQol health-related utility values for diabetic complications from CODE-2 data. Health Econ 14(3): 217-30.
- Coyle D, Lee KM, O’Brien BJ (2002) The role of models within economic analysis: focus on type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pharmacoeconomics 20(Suppl 1): 11-9.
