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by jean_valje4n 1831 days ago
Well a lot of people with biochem background also have a lot of skepticism about it too.

Ivermectin works by interrupting nerve function of helminths(parasites). covid is a virus, not a multicellular organism with nerves.

I'm not saying ivermectin is useless, but why it would work for covid doesn't make sense (yet at least). Maybe it has some other mechanism to slow down covid that isn't fully understood.
4 comments
spiffydave 1831 days ago
"but why it would work for covid doesn't make sense"

This is the way many treatments work. For example, hydroxychloroquine was a treatment for malaria, but doctors found that some patients with autoimmune disease had their symptoms lessened or eliminated as they were treated for malaria.

So, it has become a milder treatment for autoimmune disease in some cases. The scientific community doesn't 100% understand why it's effective for autoimmune disease, but there you go. It seems to work in many cases.

I say this not as an expert, but as someone who has taken it and it has worked for me. I don't care that the mechanism is unexplained.

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darwingr 1831 days ago
The mechanism has now been published in Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-021-00430-5
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argvargc 1831 days ago
You don't seem to know what you're talking about.

The mechanism by which Ivermectin works does make sense, and has been well-established. Look up any of the many binding studies on pubmed for example.

Regardless of this, the results of the great many RCT's speak for themselves.

https://ivmmeta.com

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galangalalgol 1831 days ago
there were some studies that seemed to show that it shrank melanomas. my guess is it is triggering the immune system response. but i just write software, so dont go chugging horse dewormer instead of seeing a doctor because this smart guy on hn said it would get rid of your melanoma.
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noduerme 1831 days ago
This. A lot of things generate a broad immune response that would probably improve mild to moderate cases of just about anything. My gf secretly switched my usual horse dewormer for Sanka. On the third day I ate the postman, but I haven't had covid since.
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