A COVID-19 prophylaxis? Lower incidence associated with prophylactic administration of ivermectin

Abstract

As COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) continues to rapidly spread throughout the world, the incidence varies greatly among different countries. These differences raise the question whether nations with a lower incidence share any medical commonalities that could be used not only to explain that lower incidence but also to provide guidance for potential treatments elsewhere. Such a treatment would be particularly valuable if it could be used as a prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) transmission, thereby effectively slowing the spread of the disease while we await the wide availability of safe and effective vaccines. Here, we show that countries with routine mass drug administration of prophylactic chemotherapy including ivermectin have a significantly lower incidence of COVID-19. Prophylactic use of ivermectin against parasitic infections is most common in Africa and we hence show that the reported correlation is highly significant both when compared among African nations as well as in a worldwide context. We surmise that this may be connected to ivermectin's ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication, which likely leads to lower infection rates. However, other pathways must exist to explain the persistence of such an inhibitory effect after serum levels of ivermectin have declined. It is suggested that ivermectin be evaluated for potential off-label prophylactic use in certain cases to help bridge the time until a safe and effective vaccine becomes available.

Keywords: COVID-19; Ivermectin; Mass drug administration; Prophylactic chemotherapy; Prophylaxis; SARS-CoV-2.

Fig. 1

Country-specific COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) incidence in groups with different types of prophylactic chemotherapy (PCT) for parasitic infections. The letters (a,b) denote statistically significant groups (P ≤ 0.05). Outliers above the 95th percentile were removed for visual clarification. Whiskers represent 10th and 90th percentiles.

Fig. 2

Incidence of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) as a function of prophylactic chemotherapy (PCT) with ivermectin in African countries. The letters (a,b) denote statistically significant groups (P ≤ 0.05). Outliers above the 95th percentile were removed for visual clarification. Whiskers represent 10th and 90th percentiles.

Fig. 3

Incidence of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) as a function of prophylactic chemotherapy (PCT) with ivermectin in African countries as violin plot.