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    Home»Health»Coronavirus Fight: Scientists Identify COVID-19 Drug That “Kills” the Virus Within 48 Hours
    Health

    Coronavirus Fight: Scientists Identify COVID-19 Drug That “Kills” the Virus Within 48 Hours

    By Monash UniversityApril 5, 202023 Comments5 Mins Read
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    Kill Covid19 Coronavirus
    Artists impression of “killing” the COVID-19 coronavirus.
    • While shown to be effective in the lab environment, Ivermectin cannot be used in humans for COVID-19 until further testing and clinical trials have been completed to confirm the effectiveness of the drug at levels safe for human dosing.
    • For any medical questions you have about your health, please consult your health care provider.
    • The potential use of Ivermectin to combat COVID-19 remains unproven, and depends on pre-clinical testing and clinical trials to progress the work.
    • A Monash University-led study has shown that an anti-parasitic drug already available around the world can “kill” the virus within 48 hours in cell culture.
    • Scientists showed that a single dose of the drug, Ivermectin, could stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in cell culture.
    • The next steps are to determine the correct human dosage – ensuring the doses shown to effectively treat the virus in vitro are safe for humans.
    • The use of Ivermectin to combat COVID-19 depends on pre-clinical testing and clinical trials, with funding urgently required to progress the work.
    • Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has also been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, Dengue, Influenza and Zika virus.
    • This Monash University-led collaborative study was published in Antiviral Research, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Elsevier.

    A collaborative study led by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) with the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, has shown that an anti-parasitic drug already available around the world kills the virus within 48 hours.

    The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s Dr. Kylie Wagstaff, who led the study, said the scientists showed that the drug, Ivermectin, stopped the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in cell culture within 48 hours.

    “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. Wagstaff said.

    Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has also been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, Dengue, Influenza and Zika virus. 

    Dr. Wagstaff cautioned that the tests conducted in the study were in vitro and that trials needed to be carried out in people.

    “Ivermectin is very widely used and seen as a safe drug. We need to figure out now whether the dosage you can use it at in humans will be effective – that’s the next step,” Dr. Wagstaff said.

    “In times when we’re having a global pandemic and there isn’t an approved treatment, if we had a compound that was already available around the world then that might help people sooner. Realistically it’s going to be a while before a vaccine is broadly available.

    Although the mechanism by which Ivermectin works on the virus is not known, it is likely, based on its action in other viruses, that it works to stop the virus ‘dampening down’ the host cells’ ability to clear it, Dr. Wagstaff said.

    Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Dr. Leon Caly, a Senior Medical Scientist at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) at the Doherty Institute where the experiments with live coronavirus were conducted, is the study’s first author.

    “As the virologist who was part of the team who were first to isolate and share SARS-COV2 outside of China in January 2020, I am excited about the prospect of Ivermectin being used as a potential drug against COVID-19,”  Dr. Caly said.

    Dr. Wagstaff made a previous breakthrough finding on Ivermectin in 2012 when she identified the drug and its antiviral activity with Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s Professor David Jans, also an author on this paper. Professor Jans and his team have been researching Ivermectin for more than 10 years with different viruses.

    Dr. Wagstaff and Professor Jans started investigating whether it worked on the SARS-CoV-2 virus as soon as the pandemic was known to have started.

    The use of Ivermectin to combat COVID-19 would depend on the results of further pre-clinical testing and ultimately clinical trials, with funding urgently required to keep progressing the work, Dr. Wagstaff said.

    Reference: “The FDA-approved Drug Ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro” by Leon Caly, Julian D. Druce, Mike G. Catton, David A. Jans and Kylie M. Wagstaff, 3 April 2020, Antiviral Research.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2020.104787

    Ivermectin Information From Wikipedia

    Ivermectin is a medication used to treat many types of parasite infestations. This includes head lice, scabies, river blindness (onchocerciasis), strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, ascariasis, and lymphatic filariasis.

    Ivermectin was discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981. It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system. The wholesale cost in the developing world for the tablets is about US $0.12 for a course of treatment. In the United States, the costs is less than US$50. In other animals, it is used to prevent and treat heartworm among other diseases.

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    COVID-19 Microbiology Molecular Biology Monash University Popular Public Health Virology
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    23 Comments

    1. Victor Perton on April 5, 2020 11:18 am

      Terrific positive news. Thanks.

      Reply
    2. vcragain on April 5, 2020 11:49 am

      Well frankly if it is in use for many things already, if I had C-19 & you asked me if you could try that I would say ‘yes’ with no hesitation….for heaven’s sake give the patient’s the say-so – they know what their risks are …..and it can kill off anything else that it’s good for at the same time !!

      Reply
    3. Vincent Strout on April 5, 2020 2:59 pm

      It is approved in humans for river blindness so what’s the problem.?

      Reply
    4. Ken Stephens on April 5, 2020 7:15 pm

      Just use the drug if it’s effective. The media has already accounted for thousands of deaths. Everyone could have already been taking high doses of vitamin C if not for the lying media. We could have been vigorously using the drugs the President recommended if not for the lying media. No one trusts anything you people say anymore.

      Reply
    5. Anil on April 5, 2020 8:44 pm

      It is safe drug given to kids so I presume doctors will try this to save patients ..

      Reply
    6. Veeresh on April 6, 2020 12:34 am

      When will all trial gets completed for using in mass number,I mean still how many days are required to make sure that it can be used for covid19 all the people

      Reply
    7. JM Luz on April 6, 2020 3:09 am

      If this has been in use to take care of so many diseases already for so many years, why not try it on a COVID patient who opts in for this as a drug not yet approved as a treatment for this disease but which scientists think can be useful against C-19. Better to do this than to take 6 months to a year to get an FDA approval for using this against C-19 when so many people are getting sick every day as it is.

      Reply
    8. Mansel Thomas on April 6, 2020 6:36 am

      As a retiree medical scientist the time has come to take risks
      If there is a possibility and I honestly think it will work
      It should be used on patients who are prepared to take
      It
      It is time for ethics and humanitie

      Reply
    9. Captain76 on April 6, 2020 7:50 am

      I like how everyone here is using logic. Don’t you know in today’s hyper partisan world there is no room for logic. Please, Please have someone like Barack Obama say something positive about this drug. I just pray no one tells Trump this exists, otherwise he might say something about it and the whole media complex will throw it in the trash bin with Chloriquine.

      Reply
    10. James Clark on April 6, 2020 9:59 am

      People don’t trust the media at all especially for our health and this drug already is FDA approved so get it started and forget about the media that is more harmful than the virus 🦠

      Reply
    11. Ian Dickson on April 6, 2020 2:25 pm

      Surely the company who originally licensed Ivermectin must have data on blood concentration levels with different oral dosing. The lab want to only use a comparable concentration in vitro to see if this has the already observed effect. If this is possible and kills Covid19 surely it is worth trying in people who get more seriously ill.

      Reply
    12. Bob on April 6, 2020 2:33 pm

      Id possibly effective why not run the trial in humans since it is a drug already used… I meen s#!t I can go buy that stuff at the local ranch and feed store.

      Reply
    13. Sat mullick on April 6, 2020 4:47 pm

      Pl contact Bill Gates for funding your study .

      Reply
    14. D.T. Baker on April 6, 2020 10:31 pm

      “Human trials expected to begin in 18 months….” Blah, Blah, Blah….
      Just like hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin is already tested and deemed safe – and thus, available to doctors and pharmacists for “off label” use at the discretion of the treating physician.
      They can prescribe pretty much anything they see fit, and they don’t need the permission of the Main Stream Media.
      One can tell the truth at hand by the cacophony of rabid voices that rise against it, the same old monsters: deep state politicians, bureaucrats, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NBC, New York Times, AP, Reuters, NPR, BBC…et al.
      But, We The People are listening to the new media, voices of rationality and common sense – on the internet – your ratings and circulation do not lie. Your tiresome lies are falling on deaf ears.
      Eggs are bad for you…Butter is bad for you…Margarine is fine…Ibuprofen is totally safe…
      Same old deep state Rockefeller medicine models.
      We are onto you; our abuse at the hands of your media dogs and systematic abuse is going to stop.

      Reply
    15. Jim on April 7, 2020 3:08 am

      Could this be a reason why children seem less affected by Covid?
      I remember as a child lice was quite common as it spread at school,maybe more children have had lice medication and thus my unscientific reasoning,still it’s an idea.

      Reply
    16. Jack on April 7, 2020 5:38 am

      The dosage required to kill SARS-CoV-2 in a human host is the real question? Is it the same dose that also kills parasites or is there a higher, potentially toxic, dose required? Hopefully it would be a dosage already prescribed within the standard regime for conditions for which the drug is currently in usage.

      Reply
    17. Dr M Sethumadhavan, on April 7, 2020 11:35 am

      Ivermectin as a single dose of12 mgm for adults & 6 mgm for children has been in use for decades without adverse effects
      Definitely it can be tried in Covid 19 infections

      Reply
    18. Darlene lachapelle on April 7, 2020 11:50 am

      Im so sick with covid19 and my doctor wont let me have it. I feel like im dying i need help. Please let me try this please.

      Reply
    19. Derrick Wallace on April 19, 2020 5:27 am

      If this an option out there why not allow this to be given to those who are sick. We must take some chances with anything out there to have cease fire of mass killings. I’m a black healthy author who reads and write this is not hard if this drug been out there for sometime. Again what we have to lose than save a life. Lives do matter to everyone this COVID-19 is no joke!

      Reply
    20. Dennis Abrameit on July 5, 2020 5:55 pm

      I was treating him for headlice with ivermectin and it just happened to cure his Corona problem also(said the doctor who wanted to use a non fda approved treatment for Corona just an idea,bet you could find some lice if you needed too to make it legal and save a life.Is this idea dumb if you were dying would you hate me for suggesting it?

      Reply
    21. Andrea on April 10, 2021 10:02 am

      Ivermectin has been around and used since 1981. It’s obviously more safe and has proven to be effective. Unlike this not vaccine. It’s also been used on horses for decades. The reason Texas and Florida are open for business is that they have been using ivermectin in the hospitals to treat covid and it works. But big pharma doesn’t want the world to find out. India gave all their residents a 2¢ blister pack of ivermectin and are now opened up as well. They will not make billions off a not vaccine if people find out that something cheap actually treats it. Also the not vaccine has nano technology in it so I’m definitely saying no thanks to that.

      Reply
    22. Beckie on August 8, 2021 4:13 pm

      Dr M Sethumadhavan how often do you take this?

      Reply
    23. Alex on September 6, 2021 2:04 pm

      Ivermectin “works” to eliminate intestinal parasites. It’s a STRE-TCH but this might point to the possibility that Covid “hides” in the intestinal tract… PERHAPS as a function of RNA “adoption” of viral RNA (or rRNA?) by e-coli populating the lower intestinal tract.
      That said, another antiprotozoal, Tinidiazole (Tiniba, trade name elsewhere) saved my life in the Himal. I contracted cholera deep in the Eastern Bush. It works by discharging the intestinal lining and, with it, the offending organism. The effects are quite “dramatic” with the first dose and life-threatening if one exceeds the recommended second dosage. Indeed, this deviation can and WILL result in intestinal perforation and DEATH.
      I am bringing this to light NOT AS A RECOMMENDATION but as a recommendation AGAINST self-prescribing/dosing. My “life saver” was prescribed by an MD, versed in Third World diseases and their pathology.
      I feel compelled here, because I believe that it is ONLY a matter of time before Tinidiazole pops up in the popular “wisdom” as another cure-all. And, as such, it is bound for abuse by the “commons” who typically don’t read the instructions on their medications. As my prescribing physician, mentor, friend and colleague once observed:THE DOCTOR WHO SELF-PRESCRIBES, HAS A FOOL FOR A PATIENT.
      🦋

      Reply
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