The studies about the positive effect actually come from Bangladesh, and you know what? People are pretty poor there and often have chronic worm infections. So if you kill those worms their immune system can better concentrate on fighting the Covid19 virus instead. Its as simple as that.
Also I remember reading that the worms are held back by the immune system, but a treatment (against covid) will kill your immune system which is good for covid but will help the worms so killing worms first is good. That’s why the positive finding ivermectin studies come from areas with high rates of worms in ppl.
“In the groups who received ivermectin during trials, the drug would keep strongyloides in check. But patients in control groups would be left at the worms’ mercy. This would make it look as if ivermectin were preventing deaths caused solely by covid-19, when in fact it was preventing those caused by the parasites or by a combination of the two infections. This mechanism would explain why most studies conducted in places where strongyloides are rare showed no benefit from taking ivermectin. “Ivermectin doesn’t treat covid,” Dr Bitterman wrote. “It treats parasites (shocker) that kill people when they get steroids that treat covid.” He concluded that “taking strongyloides endemic populations, putting them into a control group with corticosteroids is a death sentence”.”
The studies about the positive effect actually come from Bangladesh, and you know what? People are pretty poor there and often have chronic worm infections. So if you kill those worms their immune system can better concentrate on fighting the Covid19 virus instead. Its as simple as that.
Also I remember reading that the worms are held back by the immune system, but a treatment (against covid) will kill your immune system which is good for covid but will help the worms so killing worms first is good. That’s why the positive finding ivermectin studies come from areas with high rates of worms in ppl.
From “The Economist”: https://outline.com/TmBFfj
“In the groups who received ivermectin during trials, the drug would keep strongyloides in check. But patients in control groups would be left at the worms’ mercy. This would make it look as if ivermectin were preventing deaths caused solely by covid-19, when in fact it was preventing those caused by the parasites or by a combination of the two infections. This mechanism would explain why most studies conducted in places where strongyloides are rare showed no benefit from taking ivermectin. “Ivermectin doesn’t treat covid,” Dr Bitterman wrote. “It treats parasites (shocker) that kill people when they get steroids that treat covid.” He concluded that “taking strongyloides endemic populations, putting them into a control group with corticosteroids is a death sentence”.”
Recall that covid-19 wasn’t causing deaths in itself, and death happened only because of existing comorbidities in patients.