Bolivian City Gives Out Free Doses of De-Worming Drug in Bid to Combat Coronavirus (Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia 2020-05-19)

[-] jpdowlin | 2 points | Jun 14 2020 07:05:30

I have been following this page to see if we can see any sign in the statistics in Bolivia. Trinidad is part of the Beni region - and I believe ivermectin is handed out throughout the region, not just in Trinidad. You can see early signs that the curves are separating (Beni infection rate is going down while Santa Cruz is still growing), but it's still too early to tell:

https://boliviasegura.gob.bo/estadisticas.php

[-] TrumpLyftAlles | 1 points | Jun 12 2020 01:17:52

This is pretty redundant with the NYTimes article but that article is no longer available (or the link changed) so here's the same/similar information again.

Manuel Negrete holds the anti-parasite drug ivermectin after buying it with a medical prescription at a local pharmacy in Santa Cruz, Bolivia May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Rodrigo Urzagasti

TRINIDAD (Reuters) - Officials in the Bolivian city of Trinidad launched a campaign on Monday to give out free doses of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin in a bid to combat the coronavirus in the country's hard-hit eastern region.

Authorities will go house-to-house to pass out some 350,000 doses of the drug to residents in the region of Beni, where Trinidad is the capital. The area has 581 confirmed cases and 41 coronavirus-related deaths.

The South American nation has been under a country-wide lockdown for about two months.

Ivermectin has won support among officials in Trinidad.

The Ministry of Health said it can be used under proper medical protocol, while noting the lack of evidence for it as a treatment for COVID-19 - the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

"It is a product that does not have scientific validation in the treatment of the coronavirus," Health Minister Marcelo Navajas told local media. "It does serve to treat parasitic diseases and other types of diseases. Therefore, we ask our medical colleagues who are going to use this product to do so with informed consent."

An Australian study found that ivermectin can kill the coronavirus in 48 hours in a laboratory setting. The study did not include human testing.

Many people in Beni said they were willing to try the drug.

"We are afraid of testing positive for coronavirus because of the constant deaths that are seen every day in Trinidad. We have faith and we believe that ivermectin has made my mother improve," said Yara Zampeira, a resident of Beni.

Ivermectin is used to treat roundworms, threadworms and other parasites. There is also a formulation used to de-worm animals. Health officials have cautioned that people not take the version intended for animals.

Bolivia has more than 4,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 174 deaths, according government data.