Study: Ivermectin may treat Babesia

Really interesting study here. Shows Ivermectin may be quite effective against babesia, and Ivermectin + atovaquone for 49 completely eradicated Babesia in mice.

Somebody said...


Evaluation of the inhibitory effect of ivermectin on the growth of Babesia and Theileria parasites in vitro and in vivo


Abstract

Background

Treatment is the principle way to control and eliminate piroplasmosis. The search for new chemotherapy against Babesia and Theileria has become increasingly urgent due to parasite resistance to current drugs. Ivermectin (IVM) was the world’s first endectocide, capable of killing a wide variety of parasites and vectors, both inside and outside the body. It is currently authorized to treat onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, strongyloidiasis, and scabies. The current study documented the efficacy of IVM on the growth of Babesia and Theileria in vitro and in vivo.

Methods
The fluorescence-based assay was used for evaluating the inhibitory effect of IVM on four Babesia species, including B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. divergens, B. caballi, and Theileria equi, the combination with diminazene aceturate (DA), clofazimine (CF), and atovaquone (AQ) on in vitro cultures, and on the multiplication of a B. microti-infected mouse model. The cytotoxicity of compounds was tested on Madin–Darby bovine kidney (MDBK), mouse embryonic fibroblast (NIH/3 T3), and human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cell lines.

Results
The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values determined for IVM against B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. divergens, B. caballi, and T. equi were 53.3 ± 4.8, 98.6 ± 5.7, 30.1 ± 2.2, 43.7 ± 3.7, and 90.1 ± 8.1 μM, respectively. Toxicity assays on MDBK, NIH/3 T3, and HFF cell lines showed that IVM affected the viability of cells with a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 138.9 ± 4.9, 283.8 ± 3.6, and 287.5 ± 7.6 μM, respectively. In the in vivo experiment, IVM, when administered intraperitoneally at 4 mg/kg, significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the growth of B. microti in mice by 63%. Furthermore, combination therapies of IVM–DA, IVM–AQ, and IVM–CF at a half dose reduced the peak parasitemia of B. microti by 83.7%, 76.5%, and 74.4%, respectively. Moreover, this study confirmed the absence of B. microti DNA in groups treated with combination chemotherapy of IVM + DA and IVM + AQ 49 days after infection.

Conclusions
These findings suggest that IVM has the potential to be an alternative remedy for treating piroplasmosis.

https://tropmedhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41182-019-0171-8

Post Edited (Lapis_29) : 10/14/2019 9:51:55 PM (GMT-6)

High dose ivermectin helped me and I'm not sure it was babesia it was hitting. I had a sore on my arm that had been there for over a year and it healed when on the ivermectin. I was thinking something similar to a cutaneous Leptosporidium but who knows. I have one now that has been there for two years and won't heal like it should.

Great share. Ivermectin flared all my babesia symptoms hard. At the time, when I had a much higher pathogen load it was the strongest med I had taken up to that point. For some of us it may be a very good med for the protozoa.

just a note to be aware of

ref the study posted in the OP

those minimum inhibitory concentrations ( drug concentration needed to kill 50% of the parasites ) for ivermectin are very high indeed.

as a comparison - most drugs for lyme and other bacterial infections tend to work on the low single digit micromolar range eg (0.2 to 5uM)- whereas to kill even 50% of the Babesia in these studies - they were needing to use 50-100uM - in other words - 10 to 100x higher concentrations of ivermectin were needed than typical antimicrobial drugs - when it is used as a mono therapy.

these concentrations are probably entirely unachievable via oral use in humans - but there are not many affordable and effective drugs for bovine babesiosis worldwide - so that's why the paper was targeting Ivermectin

and that is why the study proposed it is combined with atovaquone

i am sure Ivermectin has some anti-piroplasm activity - its just on its own its unlikely to be sufficiently antimicrobial to deal with a chronic babesia infection

it does have some interesting immune modulating properties - which could be at the root of why it can be so effective for some people

its mechanism of anti-microbial activity for some organisms is also mysterious - as for instance its anti-nematode effects last weeks after its been cleared from the system - so they don't know how or why it works like that ( again possibly by some long lasting immune modulating effect )