Retrospective Study: 1st Ivermectin Dose Associates with Increase in SpO2 Levels in COVID-19 Patients

During the pandemic TrialSite chronicled the study and use of repurposed drugs such as ivermectin as a possible therapy for COVID-19,&nbsp; This media followed Zimbabwe with particular interest where surges in SARS-CoV-2 were met with heavy societal use of ivermectin in combination with doxycycline. A dynamic Harare-based physician, Dr. Jaqueline (Jackie) Stone saved many lives during&nbsp; SARS-CoV-2 surges in 2021 as TrialSite learned in multiple interviews and investigations. Stone and others successfully cared for thousands of people from the local proletariat and economically challenged rural populations to high elites in government and military, the latter of which led to the temporary acceptance of the drug by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ). By February 2021 TrialSite reported in &ldquo;Zimbabwe Officials Green light Massive Importation of Ivermectin to Treat COVID-19&rdquo; officials form the Health and Child Care function sent a letter to MCAZ instructing them to allow for the importation of the drug for human use under the guiding principle that ill patients should not be denied effective treatment regimens.&nbsp; Essentially introducing an emergency use authorization, TrialSite observed a striking seeming association: the ivermectin wave in Zimbabwe appeared to link with the marked reductions in COVID-19 cases. By April 2021 this media reported in &ldquo;Physician Reports Ivermectin Correlated with Dramatic Decrease in [COVID] Cases &amp; Deaths&rdquo; significant reductions in COVID-19 cases since the MCAZ acceptance of the drug.&nbsp; Dr. Stone and colleagues, including U.S.-based corresponding author David Scheim and Colleen Aldous, clinical and professional practice University of Kwazulu-Natal now offer results of a small, but nonetheless, important real-world retrospective study revealing the seeming association of a first dose of an ivermectin-based regimen and marked increases in COVID-19 patient oxygen levels, an important diagnostic indicator.
A deadly pandemic outbreak makes it very difficult to methodically and systematically conduct research while patients suffer and die, particularly in low-and middle-income countries LMICs) such as Zimbabwe. A nation with limited medical infrastructure and medicinal supplies to counter COVID-19, physicians there embraced ivermectin-based combination treatment options based on emerging data points from in vitro studies to what were already a couple dozen completed clinical trials testing the common therapy targeting parasite-born conditions such as River Blindness in the tropics.