Horse medicine against corona? Many Austrians rely on worming - woman after poisoning in clinic

Vaccine skeptics resort to curious means: A wormer treatment for horses should offer protection against the corona virus.

Now a woman is in the intensive care unit after being poisoned by the agent.

Update from November 18, 1:45 p.m.:

, which is actually intended as a wormer treatment for horses, is used as a remedy against corona

among vaccine skeptics

.

Now, among other things, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against taking the worming agent.

The manufacturer itself did this too, MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) spoke out clearly against taking it for corona patients “in accordance with the current medical recommendations”.

Austria: deworming agent against corona?

Woman ends up in the intensive care unit

There was "no meaningful evidence for the use of

(Stromectol) in Sars-CoV-2," said MSD.

Christoph Steininger from the Medical University of Vienna also speaks of delivery bottlenecks that can be traced back to the "improper use of

".

It also hampers “correct treatments for parasitic diseases”.

Experts also warned of the dangers of an overdose of the drug.

In Austria there have now been cases of poisoning among people.

As

reported on Wednesday, an East Styrian woman is

in the intensive care unit

after an overdose of

.

The woman will continue to be treated in intensive care, but is already in danger of death.

First report

Linz -

or

- these are usually the recommended means of protection against the coronavirus.

Not so in Upper Austria, where a curious product like hot cakes has been disappearing from pharmacies for a few days:

, actually intended as a wormer for horses in everyday life.

The drug enjoys great popularity, especially among vaccine skeptics.

It was recommended by an FPÖ politician who has now infected himself with the corona virus.

Austria: Horse medicine becomes a best seller

Only a few weeks ago Herbert Kickl presented the so-called "Plan B" with which Austria should surely survive the fourth wave of corona. The FPÖ boss also swore by ivermectin, a medicine that is actually used against parasites in horses and cows. Taking the agent didn't help Kickl himself, the 53-year-old tested positive for the corona virus a few days ago. However, this could not stop a buying frenzy in the federal state of Upper Austria, in many places the prescription drug can no longer be bought.

The World Health Organization (WHO) spoke out against taking the worming cure, saying there was no evidence of the effectiveness of the agent against the virus.

Many people seem to ignore the hints and concerns, however, according to a report by the

newspaper, a 47-year-old woman died after taking the drug in the USA, where the drug is also extremely popular.

Her husband wanted to hold on to the effectiveness of the preparation even in the hospital and tried to declare further treatment with the worming cure.

Manufacturer warns: worming has no proven effectiveness against corona

The buying frenzy in Austria has now made such waves that even the manufacturer of the preparation has taken a position: "There is no conclusive evidence for the clinical effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2," emphasizes the company

in a press release. The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) also supports the company and emphasizes that the use of the preparation cannot be recommended for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.

"In

conclusion,

would like to state that the C19 vaccination comes first in the fight against pandemics and that

supports all measures to increase the vaccination coverage", concludes the statement, which was published on Wednesday evening (November 17th).

Austria: Incidence skyrockets

With an incidence of 908.2, Austria is well ahead of its neighboring countries.

A curfew for unvaccinated citizens has been in effect in the Alpine republic since Monday.

According to the latest information, so far 64.6 percent of all Austrians have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus (for comparison: the vaccination rate in Germany is currently 67.6%).

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