# Ivermectin Isn't Horse Medicine! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [August 31, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831 "2021-08-31T16:18:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/1 "2021-08-31T16:18:11Z")
Well, yeah, I mean, it _is_ used as a medication for horses. But in discussions on this board about its use for treating COVID - and let me be clear, I think _that_ use is idiotic - quite a few posters have referred to it as horse medication, veterinary medication, or similar, and seemed to think it’s inappropriate to use in humans. Which is just factually false. It was originally _developed_ as a veterinary medication. But it’s been approved for use in humans since _1988_. It’s an FDA-approved anti-parastic, and is on the WHO’s List of Essential Medications. In the U.S. alone there were over 100,000 prescriptions a year for it pre-COVID. It’s been used by _hundreds of millions_ of human beings to treat parasitic infestations. The issue with using it to treat COVID _isn’t_ that it’s “horse medicine”. It’s that it’s an anti-parasitic, and COVID is of course a virus. It’s an inappropriate treatment for the SARS-COV-2 virus. But it’s a perfectly appropriate treatment for many parasitic infections in humans. Can we _please_ stop objecting to its use in humans and/or ridiculing people for taking “horse de-wormer”? > **[Ivermectin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Ivermectin (/ˌaɪvərˈmɛktɪn/, EYE-vər-MEK-tin) is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis. Approved for human use in 1987, today it is used to treat infestations including head lice, scabies, river blindness (onchocerciasis), strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, ascariasis and lymphatic filariasis. It works through many mechanisms to kill the targeted... ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/2 "2021-08-31T16:20:54Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Can we _please_ stop objecting to its use in humans and/or ridiculing people for taking “horse de-wormer”? Isn’t part of the issue is that people aren’t getting prescriptions for it, but instead buying it from livestock stores? In which case, they are literally taking horse medicine. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/3 "2021-08-31T16:25:41Z")
There’s a current thread about someone who got a _prescription_ for ivermectin where it’s being referred to this way. If people are buying it from livestock stores and self-administering it, the issue isn’t that they are taking “horse medicine”, the issue is that they are self-medicating without a doctor’s supervision using inappropriate dosages of an inappropriate medication. If I’ve got a spigot and hose I use to fill my horse trough with water, would you say that if I drink from the hose I’m drinking “horse water”? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/4 "2021-08-31T16:32:37Z")
I get the need to nitpick, but many of these people said they are anti-vax because it wasn’t FDA approved but turnaround and take ivermectin despite not being approved as a treatment for COVID. Many (most?) people know there are human prescriptions for it, but it doesn’t really matter. People aren’t taking it because they (or their doctors) have properly studied it as a treatment but because they’ve willfully bought into misinformation while simultaneously rejecting known and effective treatments and prophylactic measures. And compared to that, mocking them for taking horse de-wormer is rather mild. Might as well nitpick that it’s also used for sheep, cows, and other livestock. “It isn’t horse medicine, it’s general livestock medicine!” ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/5 "2021-08-31T16:34:27Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > If people are buying it from livestock stores and self-administering it, the issue isn’t that they are taking “horse medicine”, the issue is that they are self-medicating without a doctor’s supervision using inappropriate dosages of an inappropriate medication. If people are taking **any** form of Ivermectin for Covid (as senior Republicans are advising them to do), they are indeed self-medicating without a doctor’s supervision using inappropriate dosages of an inappropriate medication 🤢 > [@gdave](#): > > If I’ve got a spigot and hose I use to fill my horse trough with water, would you say that if I drink from the hose I’m drinking “horse water”? If horses are extinct and I drink from a horse trough, would you say I’m drinking “horse water”? 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/6 "2021-08-31T16:47:36Z")
> [@glee](#): > > If people are taking **any** form of Ivermectin for Covid (as senior Republicans are advising them to do), they are indeed self-medicating without a doctor’s supervision using inappropriate dosages of an inappropriate medication 🤢 I…agree? That’s literally what I said? > [@glee](#): > > f horses are extinct and I drink from a horse trough, would you say I’m drinking “horse water”? 🙄 I…what are you trying to disagree with me about? Why the eye-rolls? > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I get the need to nitpick, but many of these people said they are anti-vax because it wasn’t FDA approved but turnaround and take ivermectin despite not being approved as a treatment for COVID. > > Many (most?) people know there are human prescriptions for it, but it doesn’t really matter. People aren’t taking it because they (or their doctors) have properly studied it as a treatment but because they’ve willfully bought into misinformation while simultaneously rejecting known and effective treatments and prophylactic measures. > > And compared to that, mocking them for taking horse de-wormer is rather mild. > > Might as well nitpick that it’s also used for sheep, cows, and other livestock. “It isn’t horse medicine, it’s general livestock medicine!” On _this board_, posters have asserted that ivermectin is veterinary medicine and inappropriate for use in humans. I _agree_ it’s idiotic to use it to treat COVID - I literally say that in the second sentence of my OP. I also don’t think this is a mere nitpick. Ridiculing people for their scientific illiteracy in taking ivermectin to treat COVID by referring to it as “horse medicine” is beyond ironic. If you want to ridicule people for taking de-wormer to treat a virus, have at. And, _of course_ ridiculing the use of ivermectin for COVID by calling it “horse medicine” isn’t as bad as actually _using_ ivermectin to treat COVID. I’m not saying the posters referring to ivermectin as “horse medicine” are idiots, or trying to cast aspersions on them. I’m just saying, well, that ivermectin isn’t horse medicine. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/7 "2021-08-31T16:48:05Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > If I’ve got a spigot and hose I use to fill my horse trough with water, would you say that if I drink from the hose I’m drinking “horse water”? At our barn? Yes. The barn water supply comes straight from the well bypassing the house, isn’t filtered, nor softened. It has a slight sulfur odor. You’d have to be hard up to drink the horse water. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/8 "2021-08-31T16:48:26Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Can we _please_ stop objecting to its use in humans and/or ridiculing people for taking “horse de-wormer”? Not as long as people are heading to the local “Farm & Feed” to pick it up. Nope can do. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/9 "2021-08-31T16:48:35Z")
I’ve prescribed ivermectin about half a dozen times in my career (approaching 40 years now) and it was always for particularly intractable cases of scabies. Last such Rx was less than a year ago. It worked well for that purpose. Patients tolerated the treatment well. I do NOT prescribe it for covid. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/10 "2021-08-31T16:49:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > At our barn? Yes. The barn water supply comes straight from the well bypassing the house, isn’t filtered, nor softened. It has a slight sulfur odor. You’d have to be hard up to drink the horse water. That sounds like my tap water in my house (I’m on a well). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/11 "2021-08-31T16:54:43Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > That sounds like my tap water in my house (I’m on a well) We just spent 10k on our water supply. Filtration, softening, light chlorination. Our well water was pristine and delicious before fracking started in the area. When we filed a claim against the frackers, their geologist examined the situation and in his opinion our water deterioration is coincidental to fracking. We looked into hiring our own geologist, but found out it was unlikely we would prevail. Fuck Fracking ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/12 "2021-08-31T17:07:21Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Can we _please_ stop objecting to its use in humans and/or ridiculing people for taking “horse de-wormer”? If you have a box of this on your kitchen counter, I’m going to ridicule you for taking “horse de-wormer.” [https://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/shop/85/10/29/3/bimectin-ivermectin-wormer-apple-flavored-8-doses-horse-dewormer\_2027773.JPG](https://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/shop/85/10/29/3/bimectin-ivermectin-wormer-apple-flavored-8-doses-horse-dewormer_2027773.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/13 "2021-08-31T17:09:55Z")
I agree with the OP. People promoting Ivermectin can properly be criticized, but don’t say somebody is taking horse medicine when they are taking human medicine (albeit foolishly). The people who are actually taking horse medicine are free game on that front, however. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/14 "2021-08-31T17:18:56Z")
_Boring!_ It’s more fun to call it horse medicine, and the fact that some people _are_ taking actual horse medicine puts it squarely within the realm of fair embellishment and whimsy. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/15 "2021-08-31T17:36:15Z")
To be fair, it is also sheep wash. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/16 "2021-08-31T17:37:59Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > If you have a box of this on your kitchen counter, I’m going to ridicule you for taking “horse de-wormer.” Heh, we just bought two dozen boxes, different brand, from Tractor Supply. They currently are on tour kitchen island. Horse people are stocking up, fearing Trumpers will buy out what’s on the shelves. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/17 "2021-08-31T17:43:21Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > To be fair, it is also sheep wash. - Do you use a brush or just dip 'em? ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/18 "2021-08-31T17:46:36Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Heh, we just bought two dozen boxes, different brand, from Tractor Supply. They currently are on tour kitchen island. Horse people are stocking up, fearing Trumpers will buy out what’s on the shelves. That’s how shortages happen. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/19 "2021-08-31T17:52:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Do you use a brush or just dip 'em? It is more of a “shower the sheep you love with ivermectin” thing. (Imagine James Taylor here.) > **[Ivermectin Sheep Drench - Durvet](https://www.durvet.com/product/ivermectin-sheep-drench/)** > > Durvet Animal Health Products offers a large range of products for livestock, equine, swine, sheep, poultry and companion animals. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831/20 "2021-08-31T17:54:07Z")
> The FDA has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses. So, at least 2. Come to think of it, there’s probably more horse people stocking up than people actually buying it to use on humans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivermectin-isnt-horse-medicine/949831.md?page=2)