Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33795896›Full record

ArticleColombia medica (Cali, Colombia)2020

COVID-19: The Ivermectin African Enigma.

Rodrigo Guerrero, Luis Eduardo Bravo, Edgar Muñoz, Elvia Karina Grillo Ardila, Esteban Guerrero

Open access · diamondAbstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Colombia medica (Cali, Colombia), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. COVID-19: The African enigma.Colombia medica (Cali, Colombia) · 2021
    Article
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Rodrigo GuerreroUniversidad del Valle, Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Prevención de la Violencia y Promoción de la Convivencia Social, CISALVA, Cali, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0002-4683-7987
Luis Eduardo BravoUniversidad del Valle, Facultad de Salud, Escuela de Medicina, Departamento de Patología, Cali, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0002-9708-0312
Edgar MuñozUniversity of Texas , Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1555-8408
Elvia Karina Grillo ArdilaUniversidad del Valle, Facultad de Salud, Doctorado en Salud, Cali, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0001-9504-5153
Esteban GuerreroBarbara&Frick. Bogotá. Colombia.
Universidad del Valle · COInstituto Barraquer de América · COThe University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe low frequency of cases and deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 virus in some countries of Africa has called our attention about the unusual behavior of this disease. The ivermectin is considered a drug of choice for various parasitic and viral diseases and shown to have in vitro effects against SARS-CoV-2.

aimsOur study aimed to describe SARS-CoV2 infection and death rates in African countries that participated in an intensive Ivermectin mass campaign carried out to control onchocerciasis and compare them with those of countries that did not participate.

methodsData from 19 countries that participated in the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsored African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), from 1995 until 2015, were compared with thirty-five (Non-APOC), countries that were not included. Information was obtained from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ database. Generalized Poisson regression models were used to obtain estimates of the effect of APOC status on cumulative SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality rates.

resultsAfter controlling for different factors, including the Human Development Index (HDI), APOC countries (vs. non-APOC), show 28% lower mortality (0.72; 95% CI: 0.67-0.78) and 8% lower rate of infection (0.92; 95% CI: 0.91-0.93) due to COVID-19.

conclusionsThe incidence in mortality rates and number of cases is significantly lower among the APOC countries compared to non-APOC countries. That a mass public health preventive campaign against COVID-19 may have taken place, inadvertently, in some African countries with massive community ivermectin use is an attractive hypothesis. Additional studies are needed to confirm it.

Indexed as

AfricaAntiparasitic AgentsCOVID-19HumansIvermectinOnchocerciasisAntiparasitic AgentsIvermectinalbendazoleconfounding factors epidemiologiccoronavirus 2coronavirus infectionsCOVID-19elephantiasisfilariasisivermectinlife expectancyOnchocerciasisonchocerciasis ocularsevere acute respiratory syndrome

Identifiers

PMID33795896
PMCPMC7968425
OpenAlexW3120192825

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.