{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,3]],"date-time":"2025-08-03T23:04:56Z","timestamp":1754262296191,"version":"3.37.3"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Universidad del Valle","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,7]],"date-time":"2020-12-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607299200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["colombiamedica.univalle.edu.co"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Colomb Med"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: The low frequency of cases and deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 virus in some countries of Africa has called our attention to the unusual behavior of this disease.\r\n\u00a0Aims:\u00a0 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.\r\n\u00a0Methods: Data from 19 countries that participated in the WHO sponsored\u00a0 African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), from 1995 until 2015, intended to treat over 90 million people annually and protect an at-risk population of 115 million, were compared with thirty-five (Non-APOC), countries that were not included. Information was obtained from https:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/ database.\r\n\u00a0Results After controlling for different factors including the Human Development Index, APOC countries, show statistically significant 28% lower mortality (0.72 IC 95% 0,67-0,78) and 8% lower rate of infection (0.92 IC95% 0,91-0,93) due to COVID-19.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0Conclusions:\u00a0\u00a0The incidence in mortality rates and the 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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.25100\/cm.v51i4.4613","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,26]],"date-time":"2021-02-26T18:56:51Z","timestamp":1614365811000},"page":"e2014613","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25100\/cm.crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["COVID-19:  The Ivermectin African Enigma"],"prefix":"10.25100","volume":"51","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4683-7987","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rodrigo","family":"Guerrero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9708-0312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis Eduardo","family":"Bravo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1555-8408","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edgar","family":"Mu\u00f1oz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9504-5153","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elvia Karina","family":"Grillo Ardila","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9504-5153","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esteban","family":"Guerrero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"10728","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"49799","unstructured":"WHO\/APOC. The WHO African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control Final Evaluation Report [Internet]. 2015. Available from: www.who.int\/apoc"},{"key":"49801","unstructured":"Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. Over 30 Years: The Mectizan\u00ae Donation Program [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2020 Aug 5]. p. 6-11. Available from: https:\/\/www.merck.com\/stories\/mectizan\/"},{"key":"49803","unstructured":"Sodahlon Y. Mectizan Donation Program. 2019 Annual Highlights [Internet]. Celebrating Milestones & Looking to the Future. 2019 [cited 2020 Aug 5]. p. 1-20. Available from: https:\/\/mectizan.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/MDP_AH19_051920.pdf"},{"key":"49805","unstructured":"Worldometer. Coronavirus Update (Live): Cases and Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic [Internet]. Worldometers. 2020. p. 1. Available from: https:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/%0Ahttps:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/?"},{"key":"49807","unstructured":"World Bank Group. Population , total - South Africa [Internet]. Vol. 19. 2020. p. 1-18. Available from: https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZA"},{"key":"49809","unstructured":"R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. [Internet]. Vienna Austria; 2020. Available from: https:\/\/www.r-project.org\/"},{"key":"49811","unstructured":"HDR. Human Development Report 2019: beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: Inequalities in human development in the 21st century [Internet]. United Nations Development Program. 2019. Available from: http:\/\/hdr.undp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/hdr2019.pdf"},{"key":"49813","unstructured":"Norrestad F. Number of coronavirus tests in Iceland 2020 [Internet]. Oct 20, 2020. Available from: https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1106855\/tested-and-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-in-iceland\/"},{"key":"49815","unstructured":"World Health Organization. WHO methods and data sources for country-level causes of death 2000-2016 [Internet]. World Health Organization. 2018. Available from: http:\/\/hdr.undp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/hdr2019.pdf"},{"key":"49817","unstructured":"World Health Organization. WHO methods and data sources for country-level causes of death 2000-2015 [Internet]. 2017. Available from: http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25378742%5Cnhttp:\/\/www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov\/articlerender.fcgi?artid=PMC4221770"},{"key":"49819","unstructured":"Liu K, He M, Zhuang Z, He D, Li H. Unexpected positive correlation between human development index and risk of infections and deaths of COVID-19 in Italy. One Heal [Internet]. 2020;10(September):1-3. Available from: https:\/\/reader.elsevier.com\/reader\/sd\/pii\/S2352771420302755?token=4F114E6CAAC56546D45EF8E0C4D7CB1A18E05F165E3FE295C311ABA2F6E870ACA163E4689383E234F4DF48BEE87E6AD4"},{"key":"49821","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shahbazi F, Khazaei S. Socio-economic inequality in global incidence and mortality rates from coronavirus disease 2019: an ecological study. New Microbes New Infect [Internet]. 2020;38:100762. Available from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.nmni.2020.100762","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nmni.2020.100762"},{"key":"49822","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mbow M, Lell B, Jochems SP, Cisse B, Mboup S, Dewals BG, et al. COVID-19 in Africa: Dampening the storm? Science (80- ). 2020;369(6504):624-6. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.abd3902","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abd3902"},{"key":"49824","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Caly L, Druce JD, Catton MG, Jans DA, Wagsta KM. The FDA-approved drug ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Antivir Res J [Internet]. 2020;178-104787(March):1-4. Available from: https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7129059\/pdf\/main.pdf. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.antiviral.2020.104787","DOI":"10.1016\/j.antiviral.2020.104787"},{"key":"49826","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Swargiary A. 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