Physician Who Prescribes Ivermectin To Inmates To Treat COVID-19 is Now Investigated, FDA Released a Warning

The state’s medical board is investigating a doctor in Washington County, Arkansas, who has been administering the anti-parasite medication ivermectin to treat prisoners with COVID-19.

Physician who prescribes ivermectin to inmates to treat COVID-19 is now under investigation. (Photo: Medpage Today)

Arkansas State Medical Board Confirmed the Investigation

In a recently published article in CBS News, the Arkansas State Medical Board’s director, Amy Embry, said that the Board’s policy is not to comment on ongoing investigations, and that material would be given to the entire Board for consideration at the next scheduled meeting once the investigation is completed.

During a finance and budget committee meeting on Tuesday night, Eva Madison, a county elected official, addressed the problem. Officials from the prison were presenting their budget for 2022, which included a request for a 10 percent increase in the medical services contract from Dr. Rob Karas, the facility’s physician who is now under investigation.

Madison notified committee members and prison authorities that a county employee, who has chosen to remain nameless to the public, had been taken to the jail’s clinic for COVID-19 testing. When the individual tested positive, they have prescribed ivermectin for $76. He was worried about the prescription and inquired about it with his primary care physician, who instructed him to “put it in the garbage,” Madison said, according to a report published in Yahoo News.

FDA Warned Against the Use of Ivermectin To Treat COVID-19

The Food and Drug Administration has cautioned against using ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 in people, but disinformation and unfounded claims promoting the drug have gone viral on social media. The CDC said it has received “several reports” of individuals who had to seek medical help or be admitted to a hospital as a result of their usage of the medication.

People ingesting extremely concentrated versions of ivermectin used to treat heartworms and other parasites in animals, such as horses and cows, have been reported in many states, according to the CDC. Humans may be “extremely toxic” from these mixtures, according to a report published in THV11.

Furthermore, in Latin America, where vaccinations and proven therapies are scarce, ivermectin has been used to treat COVID-19, but experts believe claims of its claimed advantages are based on dubious and perhaps manipulated data. Other research has shown that there is no advantage.

On the other hand, in February, Merck, the company that makes ivermectin, said there is “no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19,” and that the majority of studies on the drug’s potential effect on COVID have a “concerning lack of safety data.”