Health Canada Urges People To Stop Using Horse Drugs To 'Treat' COVID-19 & It's No Joke

The FDA also isn't horsing around.

Health Canada Urges People To Stop Using Horse Drugs To 'Treat' COVID-19 & It's No Joke
Thomas Lammeyer | Dreamstime, Tommaso79 | Dreamstime
Senior Writer

Today in some wild news, Health Canada is asking people to not take horse medication to treat COVID-19, which we really didn't expect them to ever have to say.

According to a release from Tuesday, August 31, the agency said they've received reports of Canadians using ivermectin, a horse deworming medication, to prevent or treat COVID-19.

This wild behaviour is also happening south of the border, which forced the FDA to issue a tweet warning against human use of the medication.

"The veterinary version of ivermectin, especially at high doses, can be dangerous for humans and may cause serious health problems such as vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, allergic reactions, dizziness, seizures, coma and even death," said Health Canada in the release.

The federal agency also confirmed there have been multiple reports of people in the U.S. needing hospitalization after using the horse medication.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

  • Senior Writer

    Sarah Rohoman (she/her) was a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. She has worked at BuzzFeed Canada, Yahoo Canada, and CBC Radio in news, lifestyle, ecommerce, and social media. She has an MA in Journalism from Western University and a BA from McGill. She loves libraries, alpacas, and all things witchy.

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