Posted on Feb 9, 2022
What a bottle of ivermectin reveals about the shadowy world of COVID telemedicine
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/09/ [login to see] /what-a-bottle-of-ivermectin-reveals-about-the-shadowy-world-of-covid-telemedicin
Just before Christmas, a right-wing journalist named Ben Bergquam became seriously ill with COVID-19.
"My Christmas gift was losing my [sense of] taste and smell and having a 105-degree fever, and just feeling like garbage," Bergquam said in a Facebook video that he shot as he lay in a California hospital.
"It's scary. When you can't breathe, it's not a fun place to be," he said.
Bergquam told his audience he wasn't vaccinated, despite having had childhood asthma, a potentially dangerous underlying condition. Instead, he held up a bottle of the drug ivermectin. Almost all doctors do not recommend taking ivermectin for COVID, but many individuals on the political right believe that it works.
Just before Christmas, a right-wing journalist named Ben Bergquam became seriously ill with COVID-19.
"My Christmas gift was losing my [sense of] taste and smell and having a 105-degree fever, and just feeling like garbage," Bergquam said in a Facebook video that he shot as he lay in a California hospital.
"It's scary. When you can't breathe, it's not a fun place to be," he said.
Bergquam told his audience he wasn't vaccinated, despite having had childhood asthma, a potentially dangerous underlying condition. Instead, he held up a bottle of the drug ivermectin. Almost all doctors do not recommend taking ivermectin for COVID, but many individuals on the political right believe that it works.
What a bottle of ivermectin reveals about the shadowy world of COVID telemedicine
Posted from npr.org
Medical
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Pharmaceuticals
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The details revealed in Bergquam's video provide a rare view into the prescription of an unproven COVID-19 therapy. Data shows that prescriptions for drugs like ivermectin have surged in the pandemic, but patient-doctor confidentiality often obscures exactly who is handing out the drugs.
Bergquam's testimonial provides new and troubling details about a small group of physicians who are willing to eschew the best COVID-19 treatments and provide alternative therapies made popular by disinformation — for a price.
Ivermectin is usually prescribed to treat parasitic worms, and the best medical evidence to date shows that it doesn't work against COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, American Medical Association and two pharmaceutical societies all discourage prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19, and many doctors and hospitals will not give it to patients who are seeking treatment.
But fueled by conspiracy theories about vaccine safety and alternative treatments, many on the political right incorrectly believe ivermectin is a secret cure-all for COVID. As millions of Americans fell ill with COVID last summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported ivermectin prescriptions were at 24 times pre-pandemic levels. The agency says prescriptions again rose during the latest omicron surge.
A significant number of these prescriptions come from a small minority of doctors who are willing to write them, often using telemedicine to do so, according to Kolina Koltai, a misinformation researcher at the University of Washington. The same doctors frequently promote anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
"They're profiting off misinformation, using their medical expertise as currency," she says."...
..."The details revealed in Bergquam's video provide a rare view into the prescription of an unproven COVID-19 therapy. Data shows that prescriptions for drugs like ivermectin have surged in the pandemic, but patient-doctor confidentiality often obscures exactly who is handing out the drugs.
Bergquam's testimonial provides new and troubling details about a small group of physicians who are willing to eschew the best COVID-19 treatments and provide alternative therapies made popular by disinformation — for a price.
Ivermectin is usually prescribed to treat parasitic worms, and the best medical evidence to date shows that it doesn't work against COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, American Medical Association and two pharmaceutical societies all discourage prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19, and many doctors and hospitals will not give it to patients who are seeking treatment.
But fueled by conspiracy theories about vaccine safety and alternative treatments, many on the political right incorrectly believe ivermectin is a secret cure-all for COVID. As millions of Americans fell ill with COVID last summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported ivermectin prescriptions were at 24 times pre-pandemic levels. The agency says prescriptions again rose during the latest omicron surge.
A significant number of these prescriptions come from a small minority of doctors who are willing to write them, often using telemedicine to do so, according to Kolina Koltai, a misinformation researcher at the University of Washington. The same doctors frequently promote anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
"They're profiting off misinformation, using their medical expertise as currency," she says."...
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This is moronic. You pick out a single nimrod who, with an underlying condition associated with severe COVID conditions, decides not to get the vaccine. And then you persist in your stupidity by attempting to smear an entire swath of doctors and scientists who have come out in support of therapies like ivermectin. There was literally a study just put out by researchers in Japan that found ivermectin had produced an antiviral effect in COVID patients, you clod.
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LTC Eugene Chu
Issue is not that he is a "single nimrod". He is among a growing group of multiple right wing pundits who contracted COVID after refusing vaccination. Even back in November 2021, there were multiple cases of them rejecting a preventative measure.
https://slate.com/business/2021/11/prager-bongino-covid-vaccines-right-wing-radio.html
https://slate.com/business/2021/11/prager-bongino-covid-vaccines-right-wing-radio.html
Why Are Right-Wing Radio Hosts Still Being Such Jerks About COVID?
It’s about more than partisan warfare.
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LTC Eugene Chu
Japan still has not authorized ivermectin for COVID treatment. The study was only in the initial stages, neither peer reviewed no involving human trials.
https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/ivermectin-new-study-did-not-in-fact-find-it-was-effective-against-omicron/
https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/ivermectin-new-study-did-not-in-fact-find-it-was-effective-against-omicron/
Ivermectin: New study didn't, in fact, find it was effective against omicron
The drug hasn't been shown to be an effective treatment for COVID-19.
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SGT Joseph Gunderson
LTC Eugene Chu and? Many high profile individuals who have been vaccinated have contracted COVID. Your point?
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MSgt Steve Sweeney
Could you point out this "entire swath of doctors and scientists who have come out in support of therapies like ivermectin"? By all means, link to the study you cite.
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