Ivermectin Is Not A Cure All

Social media is ablaze with hantavirus and as usual, social media gurus and "experts" are quick to make claims of what will absolutely work based on...well, nothing much really. Many posts I've been seeing are drawing the same conclusion: if ivermectin was used in COVID, and both are RNA viruses, then it must be that ivermectin can be used for hantavirus. The rationale behind the thinking is that both viruses contain viral RNA and therefore ivermectin is the solution.

Case closed. Right?

Well, that's a superficial view of things and there's a lot of details that go missed. When treatments or protocols are created they can't be vague, so if we're talking ivermectin let's break it down and how ivermectin is becoming social media's favorite RNA virus treatment.

First, we need to understand COVID's and hantavirus' genetic material. Both are RNA viruses, that's true, but they are built differently. COVID is a long positive sense single strand RNA; essentially once COVID infects a cell, the virus RNA is immediately read by the host cell, and viral proteins are made and assembled. Hantavirus, also a single strand of RNA but it's negative sense and broken into 3 segments; this means hantavirus needs to bring its own molecules to convert its virus RNA into a readable form for the host cell to read and create viral proteins. These 2 viruses have entirely different genetic structures and how they replicate themselves. COVID is a plug-in and go type of virus replication whereas hantavirus is more of an encrypted disk. Now where does ivermectin fit into all of this?

Early days of COVID, the thinking of using ivermectin was that it would interfere with COVID replicating itself but how? One mechanism was that human cells have a transport system called importin pathway. Viruses hijack this system to move their viral proteins into the host cell nucleus where they can manipulate the cell. The working theory was that ivermectin could partially block this pathway, lessening viral replication. Second idea, the severe inflammation that COVID caused. Ivermectin was proposed to reduce inflammation, decrease excessive immune activation, and limit tissue damage. All this sounds good, but these results were seen in the petri dishes. That's extremely controlled. In real world, application medications behave differently within the human body, factors like age, chronic diseases (diabetes, obesity, etc.), metabolism, etc. all play a role in how much drug gets into the body. Everyone has a variable rate and that means we don't how much ivermectin was getting into the body, and it may not be enough to stop COVID from replicating enough.

But what about hantavirus?

We know hantavirus needs more steps to replicate, it's genetic material is in segments, and to make matters worse hantavirus is much more lethal than COVID. Severe hantavirus infection can worsen very fast. With ivermectin several questions come up:

How much do we give? We know how much Tamiflu to give. We know how much acyclovir to give for CMV. But for hantavirus we don't know how much to give. If we give a medication blindly, we don't know the concentration in the body and if it's effective. That then makes the medication a guessing game at how effective it is and worse part, the side effects can be harsh on the body.

Timing is everything. Viruses can replicate fast. Antivirals work best early on in infection before the virus becomes widespread and before inflammation gets out of hand.

Amount of virus. A high exposure or high viral burden on the body will negate any antiviral effects.

Immune system differences. How your immune system responds matter. Factors like age, chronic disease, nutrition status, genetics, obesity, immune system responsiveness can all play a role in how your body will response to the virus.

Metabolism. People process medications differently, that is impacted by liver, body fat, food, gut absorption, and if there's other medications.

Getting to the target. Viruses have target host cells in order to replicate. When your body is under that much stress and inflammation there is the question of "can this medication reach where it needs to be?"

Ivermectin isn't a cure-all for every RNA virus out there. What wasn't discussed are all the side effects ivermectin causes also. Taking a medication blindly without considering anything just because a social media influencer made a generic post about it, is a sure way to land your body into trouble. So, before you run and buy up ivermectin stock, ask yourself first if your body is the best shape it can be, if you're giving yourself the proper nutrition, sleep, and rest, and if you have your community supporting you.

This post does not constitute as medical advice. All medical advice should be discussed with your healthcare provider.