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Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

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JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

New Mexican Residents Die Treating COVID-19 with Ivermectin

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Tuesday, September 28, 2021   

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A veterinary drug doctors call unsafe for treating COVID-19 has caused the deaths of two people in New Mexico, according to the state's Department of Health.

"Ivermectin toxicity" is being blamed for the deaths, with doctors reminding those desperate for a cure that drugs to treat animals are not approved for use in humans.

Elaine Blythe, New Mexico veterinary pharmacist and member of the American Pharmacists Association, said despite warnings, people have gone to the hospital after feeling ill from taking the drug.

"What we're seeing now is that when people do make that choice, physicians are saying, 'I don't know how to treat this patient who took a veterinary medication. We don't have any data on that. I don't know,'" Blythe observed.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug which has been around for years and is used in both humans and animals. There are clinical trials still under way to determine if it has any benefits against COVID. Until then, experts said people should consult their doctor, and not listen to local politicians or television hosts who have touted it as a cure for the virus.

Poison-control experts say, depending on the dose, the use of veterinary medicines in humans can cause seizures and hallucinations, and even lead to a coma. Blythe noted a mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines or doctors, or even the easy access to veterinary medicines, has prompted a small number of people to experiment with ivermectin.

"People won't listen to the scientists, the epidemiologists, the virologists, the pharmacists, the physicians, the veterinarians," Blythe lamented. "But yet if they choose to do that, the first place they go is to the hospital, and they do expect the physicians and the pharmacists to treat them."

The acting director of the New Mexico Department of Health said the two people who died, ages 38 and 79, were trying to treat coronavirus with ivermectin, which led to kidney failure in one patient. He added the two were among 14 people in the state recently hospitalized after being poisoned by the drug.


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