A well established Ivermectin drug since the 1970s in Australia
We live in a globalized world where goods, ideas and people can flow freely across borders and continents. World itself have become a living space shared by billions of people: a global environment where emergence of new and old infections needs global responses. The recent pandemic of Covid-19 brought the world's attenction to this issue and the scattered response implemented by states in every part of the world has shown the limits of national governances in addressing these global health threats.
The recent attention to the role of Ivermectin in Australia as a possible source of treatment for Coronavirus disease is fully part of this new global scenario. Ivermectin is, in fact, a medicine that have helped to treat many zoonotic diseases in poorly developed areas of the globe and, for this reason, has earned to the scientist that discovered It (along with the avermectin compounds family) the nobel prize for medicine in 2015.
Zoonoses, like Covid-19, are diseases caused by pathogens transmitted to humans by animal hosts. Sometimes viral agents can "jump" from an animal species to humans causing diseases like Ebola or Sars, but more often the responsible of such infections are parasitic mites and worms, that can be easily transmitted to humans from animals, insects and other vectors.
The developing of Ivermectin 3mg allowed to cure diseases that affect badly populations in tropical areas such as Lymphatic filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, Trachoma and other Helminthiasis. Even in the prevention of widespread diseases, like Malaria, Ivermectin is an important medical asset thanks to his effectiveness against the vector (marsh mosquitoes) and the pathogen (plasmodium). Recent studies have found that ivermectin have also interesting anti-viral effects. Many experiments have documented in-vitro effectiveness against several viruses responsible for diseases like Zika, Yellow fever, AIDS and Dengue, among others.
A part the "big three" (HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria), the greatest part of these zoonoses, the so called "called "neglected tropical diseases" have been overlooked by the international community due to the fact that they affect the lowest-income population in developed countries but especially in the poorer and under-developed countries of tropical and equatorial Africa, Asia and South America. These infections are caused by increased contact between human society and animals as a direct consequence of habitat loss, industrialization and rapid developement of certain areas of the world. The evidence of facts clearly showed that in a globalized world it's not more possible to ignore health problems emerging in distant areas, "far from home", and we are all aware that diseases starting in poor communities can spread rapidly to other countries and cause damage even in the richest nations such USA, Australia, Europe and Japan.
It's important to help the prevention of these diseases wher the epidemic are prone to start, it's important to make effective medicines, like Ivermectin, available in the areas where are most needed. We must think and react globally to global issues.
Today there are very few facilities where Ivermectin is produced. In western countries is largely used as a veterinarian drug for livestock and animal companions like dogs and cats. Today market can be supplied with a limited amount of medicines in front of the possible peak in demand if it turns out that Ivermectin would be approved for the treatment of Covid-19.
People living in 21th century world are interconnected in ways that cannot be predicted before. Here's why a medicine underused in the rich world, but much needed in poor countries such as Ivermectin, could become a life-saving medicine equally necessary in all parts of the world.
