Online class focuses on protecting sheep and goats from parasites - The Daily Freeman

Online class focuses on protecting sheep and goats from parasites - The Daily Freeman
Ivermectin For COVID-19: Parasite Drug Shows Early Promise - WebMD
Do not use animal heart worm drug to treat coronavirus, FDA warns - WTHR
Head lice drug now being studied as potential coronavirus treatment | TheHill - The Hill

Posted: 17 Apr 2020 12:34 PM PDT

KINGSTON, N.Y. — A free online class is being offered on how farms can protect sheep and goat flocks from parasites.

Through the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, Livestock Educator Jason Detzel will give a virtual class from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 21. He will focus on how to monitor, treat and prevent parasites in flocks.

The discussion will cover the life cycle and biology of parasites that affect small ruminants like goats and sheep. Detzel will show how to do fecal sampling to obtain egg counts. The procedure can be done at home to gauge the parasite load the animals are carrying, and, with it, determine the effectiveness of a deworming program.

For more information or to register, visit ulster.cce.cornell.edu/parasitecontrol. For questions on the class, call Detzel at (845) 340-3990, ext. 327, or email jbd222@cornell.edu.

Ivermectin For COVID-19: Parasite Drug Shows Early Promise - WebMD

Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT

April 7, 2020 -- An inexpensive drug used to treat parasitic infections killed the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in less than 48 hours in a laboratory setting, Australian researchers say.

The drug, ivermectin, has been used widely used for decades. It was introduced as a veterinary drug in the 1970s. Doctors also prescribe it to treat head lice, scabies, and other infections caused by parasites. According to a report published online in the journal Antiviral Research, the drug quickly prevented replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The study has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, although it is not yet a "definitive" version of record.

Researchers infected cells with SARS-CoV-2, then exposed them to ivermectin. "We showed that a single dose of ivermectin could kill COVID-19 in a petri dish within 48 hours, indicating potent antiviral activity," says study co-author David Jans, PhD, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Monash University in Melbourne.

Even at 24 hours, "there was a really significant reduction" in the virus, study leader Kylie Wagstaff, PhD, a senior research fellow in biochemistry and molecular biology at Monash University, said in a statement.

But experts say more testing is needed to know if it works well in people and if it's safe to use.

'No One Should Try to Self-Medicate'

"The main way we think ivermectin works is to target a key molecule of our cells that we think helps the virus to proliferate," Jans says. "By stopping this, the virus replicates more slowly, and so our immune system has a better chance to mount the antiviral response and kill the virus." Giving this or any antiviral drug early is thought to give the body the best chance of beating infection, he says.

In other studies, the researchers say, the drug has been shown to work against dengue fever and to limit infections similar to COVID-19, such as the West Nile virus.

The drug is "safe at relatively high doses, widely available, and relatively cheap, too," Jans says. The next step is more research to find the best dose for fighting COVID-19. Then researchers can begin testing in people, he says. "It is important to stress that no one should try to self-medicate with versions of ivermectin that are for veterinary purposes or head lice." The only safe way to get ivermectin is by prescription from a doctor, he says.

U.S. Experts Weigh In

The new study "certainly piqued our interest," says Jill Weatherhead, MD, an assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Her clinic uses the medicine to treat intestinal parasites found in international travelers or immigrants.

The important caveat, says Weatherhead, who reviewed the study but was not involved in the research, is that it was done in a lab. But "at this point, any lead we have should be investigated," she says. "What we really need to know is, could you translate that concentration [of the drug used in the lab study] into human studies and have it be safe?"

"The results are promising," agrees Katherine Seley-Radtke, PhD, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She holds patents on compounds that are also being studied for COVID-19.

"Ivermectin," she says, "has shown effectiveness against other viruses, despite being an anti-parasitic drug." The drug is worthy of further study, Seley-Radtke says, but she calls the findings "very preliminary."

Do not use animal heart worm drug to treat coronavirus, FDA warns - WTHR

Posted: 17 Apr 2020 04:06 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (TEGNA) - The FDA is warning that people should not take a heartworm and anti-parasitic drug meant for animals as a treatment for the new coronavirus. It comes after a recent lab study showed promising signs that the drug could affect the virus.

There is a version of ivermectin that is approved for use in humans for the treatment of some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions, according to the FDA. But there is a different version that is approved for use in animals for the prevention of heartworms and treatment of parasites.

The FDA says a study published on April 3 indicated that ivermectin showed signs of inhibiting the coronavirus in a petri dish. But the drug has not yet been given to people or animals infected with coronavirus. The FDA stresses that further testing is needed to determine if it is safe or effective to prevent or treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The FDA is concerned that people may try to self-medicate based on this study. Since the drug is only available to humans by prescription, there is concern people may go so far as to use the version of the drug intended for animals.

"People should never take animal drugs, as the FDA has only evaluated their safety and effectiveness in the particular animal species for which they are labeled," the FDA said in an April 10 statement. "These animal drugs can cause serious harm in people. People should not take any form of ivermectin unless it has been prescribed to them by a licensed health care provider and is obtained through a legitimate source."

Suggested Links

This is not the first time the FDA has put out a warning for people to not self-medicate with chemicals meant for animals. Last month, an Arizona man died and his wife became critically ill after taking a treatment for their fish that contained chloroquine phosphate. The wife told NBC News they decided to take it after hearing President Donald Trump talk about the potential benefits of chloroquine during one of his briefings. Studies are now underway to test the viability of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

There are no drugs or other therapies approved by the FDA to prevent or treat COVID-19.

Head lice drug now being studied as potential coronavirus treatment | TheHill - The Hill

Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:27 PM PDT

While recent reports have focused on hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, as a possible treatment for COVID-19, an antiparasitic drug sometimes used to treat head lice is showing some promise as a potential treatment, according to ABC News.

Experts are expressing cautious optimism following two preliminary studies of the drug called ivermectin.

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"Finding a safe, affordable, readily available therapy like ivermectin, if it proves effective with rigorous evaluation, has the potential to save countless lives," Dr. Nirav Shah, an infectious disease specialist at the NorthShore University HealthySystem told ABC News.

Ivermectin was developed in the 1970s and 1980s and was first used to treat tiny roundworms called nematodes in cattle, then for river blindness in humans. More recently, ivermectin has been used to topically treat head lice, ABC reports.

A team of Australian scientists recently studied ivermectin in vitro as a potential drug against the coronavirus.

"We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it," Dr. Kylie Wagstaff, the leader of the team from Melbourne's Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, told ABC News.

The coronavirus is not a parasite, but researchers suggest ivermectin treats it like one in a sense, blocking viral RNA from invading health cells. The RNA is then slowed from replicating, giving the patient's immune system time to fight the illness off. Researchers said the next step is to "determine the correct human dosage — ensuring the doses shown to effectively treat the virus in vitro are safe for humans."

Meanwhile, another study by researchers at the University of Utah found "critically ill patients with lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation may benefit from administration of ivermectin," according to ABC News.

Dr. Amit Patel, lead author of the University of Utah study, said researchers noted a lower mortality and reduced health care resource use in those treated with ivermectin.

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Both studies are careful to emphasize that their findings need further research.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week said it was concerned about the health of consumers "who may self-medicate by taking ivermectin products intended for animals, thinking they can be a substitute for ivermectin intended for humans." Ivermectin is still widely used to treat parasites in some animals.

The agency said additional testing is needed to determine whether the drug might be safe or effective to prevent or treat coronavirus.

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