The 'truly bonkers story' of how feed-store ivermectin went dangerously viral
"A lot of people have asked me this week: Where did this ivermectin obsession come from?" NBC News' Ben Collins tweeted Thursday. "Who could possibly benefit from it? Most importantly, why did my antivaxx aunt start eating horse goo from the tractor store?" The answers, he said, is a "truly bonkers story" involving a group called America's Frontline Doctors (AFLD), an affiliated website over-promising ivermectin prescriptions, a Florida online pharmacy, and frustrated vaccine opponents who end up eating paste meant for deworming horses and cattle to try and fight COVID-19.
The CDC and FDA have issued separate warnings in the past week against ingesting ivermectin to fight COVID-19.
The human version of ivermectin, "originally introduced as a veterinary drug for livestock animals in the late-1970s," is generally safe in low doses and "useful in combating certain human diseases caused by parasites," though not viruses, NBC News reports. Interest in ivermectin as a COVID treatment started in late 2020 but remained "reasonably low until July." That's about when AFLD began promoting ivermectin among anti-vaccination groups.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
AFLD "describes itself as a 'non-partisan' group of medical professionals," Time reported Thursday. "But it originated as a right-wing political organization," founded to support former President Donald Trump's push to dial back pandemic mitigation measures. AFLD later found promoting alternative COVID-19 treatments profitable, and it's now a "leading purveyor of medical disinformation" in the anti-vaccination world, Time adds.
"They're the 21st century, digital version of snake-oil salesmen," Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, tells Time. "And in the case of ivermectin, it's extremely dangerous."
"In recent weeks, a variety of conservative figures and anti-vaccination activists have embraced the drug," NBC News reports. "Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson have mentioned it. Phil Valentine, the conservative radio host who died from COVID-19 this week, also turned to ivermectin after his diagnosis and urged his listeners to do the same. (He later encouraged listeners to get vaccinated.)"
"First it was hydroxychloroquine, then it was bleach, powerful lights, now it's horse dewormer?" Seth Meyers sighed on Thursday's Late Night. "I'm honestly terrified to imagine what's next. One day we're going to wake up and Brian Kilmeade's gonna be telling people who can cure COVID by eating kibble and sleeping in a bed of kitty litter."
Read more about the ivermectin problem at Time and NBC News.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 17, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - political anxiety, jury sorting hat, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Long-term respiratory illness is here to stay
The Explainer Covid is not the only disease with a long version
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published