Renata Moura

Journalist

In a post at the beginning of May, the Facebook profile announces: “Lice medicine kills the coronavirus”.

The text accompanies the video of a woman, who says “I discovered that this medicine really kills the virus in 48 hours”.

The face in the recording lasting just over six minutes is partially covered. The woman wears a mask, holds the medicine box and speaks towards a cell phone camera.

One of the bases of the argument is that “this coronavirus, this Covid-19” and – supposedly – was cured.

She also says that the medicine was tested in Germany. In fact, it refers to a study released in early April, in Australia, whose results indicate that Ivermectin – a substance used to treat head lice – inhibits the multiplication of SARS-CoV-2 (the new coronavirus), which causes Covid-19 disease.

With tests carried outenas in vitro – that is, with cells grown and infected in the laboratory – the researchers themselves note that possible benefits in humans still need to be investigated.

Several reports published at the time and a video of a doctor shared on the same Facebook profile made this point. The doctor who addresses the subject has more than 4 million subscribers on YouTube and warns: “you shouldn't buy the medicine to take, especially because you don't know how it will behave in the body”. The woman in the recording of just over six minutes, on the other hand, does not make any considerations. On the contrary. It encourages consumption.

“Guys, you who are poor (…), you who are afraid to go out to work (…) if you are afraid and know that there is a cure for R$ 10 that is within everyone’s reach, the problem will be over”, he says she, presenting herself as living proof that the drug works and stating that her mother's, aunts' and grandmother's generation did not take the substance to kill lice “and obviously they are more prone to the virus”. Dozens of network users shared the story. The origin and identity of the author of the video are not revealed.

The case presents as truth a “cure” labeled as “fake” by the Ministry of Health. It is one in the midst of the flood that is spreading on social media spreading misinformation associated with Covid-19.

The movement gains strength in a context that the World Health Organization (WHO) calls a huge Infodemic, an avalanche of information about the disease that has created fertile ground to confuse or deceive people not only in Brazil, but around the world. 

 Click here or on the arrow below the image to see information about it and find out how to protect yourself from this wave:

Fake, misinformation and a lot of danger

Amid the avalanche of information about the coronavirus and Covid-19, experts even refer to the spread of misinformation, that is, the dissemination of false or inaccurate information whose deliberate intention is to deceive, as an “epidemic”.

The scenario “makes it more difficult to find suitable sources and reliable guidance when needed”, explains the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

In this field, rumors, false information (Fake News), misinformation and manipulation of information with dubious intent about the new coronavirus and Covid-19 are multiplying on the networks, with enormous risks.

“Covid-19 misinformation creates confusion about medical sciences with an immediate impact on the population, and in a way more toxic and deadly than any other”, states the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco ), who calls the phenomenon “Disinfodemic”, in reference to the misinformation it promotes and the serious consequences it can lead to.

“In the context of the current pandemic, (misinformation) can profoundly affect all aspects of life and, more specifically, people's mental health, as the search for updates on Covid-19 on the Internet has grown from 50% to 70% in all generations”, adds PAHO, also pointing out risks to physical health and possible risk behaviors motivated by the dissemination of this type of information.

“Aggravating the pandemic”

Inducing people with or without symptoms to try unproven medications or ingest health-threatening substances in the hope of prevention or cure is among the possible effects of this wave.

In this race for solutions, essential treatments may end up ignored or replaced by baseless options, and other dangers may emerge.

In the United States, for example, people ingested disinfectant and suffered poisoning after President Donald Trump suggested that scientists research injecting the product into the body as a treatment for the new coronavirus.

In an interview with CNN in which he is questioned about the words of the president, Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – a government Department of Health agency – recommends that people not inject or eat the product.

Alerts

This and several other possible consequences of the dissemination of inaccurate or intentionally false information, which could lead to misinterpretations about the disease or other problems, have increasingly concerned authorities and experts in the areas of health, communication and public safety.

In the document “Understanding the infodemic and misinformation in the fight against Covid-19” – one of several that warn of the risks – PAHO reinforces that misinformation can worsen the pandemic because it “makes it difficult for people to find reputable sources and reliable guidance in general, by decision makers and health professionals when needed, as well as because it can leave people anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted and unable to meet important demands, in addition to affecting decision-making processes ”.

Inducing people not to adopt scientifically proven prevention measures, stoking polarization and other hatreds; encourage acts of violence; causing panic and turmoil and even leading to death are also on the list of possible effects – many with examples to tell the story.

Ministry of Health denies internet recipes and “medicines”

Take lice medicine, coffee, water every 15 minutes, lemon tea with baking soda, avocado tea with mint, whiskey and honey or Vitamin D.

The list of supposed miracle solutions to prevent or treat Covid-19 is enormous.

On the Ministry of Health’s “Health without Fake News” page, several of them appear and “Lice medicine can kill coronavirus – IT’S FAKE NEWS!” until this Thursday morning (14) it was fifth on the list. The report from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) questioned the Ministry about the statements contained in the video found on Facebook.

“To date, there is no medicine, substance, vitamin, specific food or vaccine that can prevent coronavirus infection or be used with 100% efficacy in treatment,” he responded, in a note similar to that published on the website.

A report from the Secretariat of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Inputs in Health (SCTIE), linked to the body with the mission of promoting science and technology and the use of scientific evidence for decision-making in the Unified Health System (SUS) , says on April 15 that the mechanism of action of this substance on the new coronavirus has not yet been elucidated and that studies in vitro with promising results are not always safe and effective in the clinical phase, that is, when tested on humans.

The department responsible for the analysis states that it is not possible, at this time, to recommend use in patients with Covid-19. In another report, released on Wednesday (13), the Secretariat publishes an excerpt from an opinion article in which the authors describe “what we have learned” about several drugs that have been evaluated as potential treatments – including the substance used against lice – and warn: “to date, none of the drugs commercially available products proved to be really effective against Covid-19.” According to the authors, “several clinical trials investigating new therapies are still ongoing and prevention, control, active communication and more investment in research are the only ways to overcome this challenge.”

The federal government Observatory for technologies related to Covid-19 notes on the website that “the revelation that the drug Ivermectin has an inhibitory effect in vitro on the replication of SARS-CoV-2, on April 3, 2020, generated repercussions and expectations in academia and among the general public”. But he considers that “two letters to the Editor of the Antiviral Research magazine and the response from the authors of the article, in addition to the FDA letter to users, warn about the limitations of simple extrapolation of studies in vitro for therapeutic application”.

Researches

Information contained on the website ClinicalTrials.gov, maintained by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, the American government's medical research agency, point out that the United States, Egypt, Argentina, India and Iraq are among the countries preparing to test the use of the substance on volunteers humans.

“There are several studies. Some are already recruiting volunteers, but it is important to note that this does not mean the substances are approved for use. They are in the clinical research phase (humans) and depend on the results to conclude whether or not they have an effect as a treatment for the disease”, observes the research coordinator at the Santos Dumont Institute, Edgard Morya. He heads the project “ISD against Covid-19”, through which master's students in neuroengineering use official sources and scientific articles to answer, on social media, the main questions related to the pandemic.

The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), which is responsible in Brazil for approving medicines or new therapeutic indications for medicines that are already on the market, was also approached by the report to comment on the matter, but did not respond, until the publication of this text.

On a video posted this week to explain the actions developed to guarantee the population's access to safe medicines in the context of a pandemic, the Agency's general manager of Medicines, Gustavo Mendes, says that even known medicines, which have been registered for a long time, need to present new guarantees before having a possible “indicated against Covid-19” included in the leaflet. (Watch below).

Questions

“Some questions”, according to him, “need to be answered before approval, precisely because the metabolic conditions, hospitalization conditions, the fragility of the patient affected by Covid-19 require a specific look to assess whether this medication will be safe and effective.”

“One of the main questions we have in this case is: what is the dose for treating Covid? because I know that for another indication it (medication) has a dose already defined in the leaflet, but what about for Covid is it the same dose or does this dose need to be adjusted? Is it a higher dose? Is it a smaller dose? This is the first question we ask. Having defined this, what we need to know is: will it really work on patients?”, he says and adds: “We know that the Covid patient has a series of specificities, a series of conditions and pathophysiological changes, changes in the disease, which cause specific health conditions. And then there's no point in me knowing that in vitro, in cells, the molecule works if I don’t know in humans – and when I talk about humans I talk about a robust statistical study – that is, there needs to be a sufficient number of volunteers tested for us to be able to make a decision”.

“Is it true”?

In the video of just over six minutes identified by the report on Facebook and shared by at least dozens of users on the network, the woman says that the box of lice pills, which she displays, “is a cure available to everyone” and that “ He’s never seen anyone die from taking it.”

The woman who appears in the recording is not the same one who posted on her own profile. In the comments, friends are tagged or ask questions: “how many grams is the medicine?” and “is it true?” To which those who read it respond: “(It’s from) lice, it doesn’t hurt”.

The story, however, is not like that. In addition to not having proven efficacy to treat Covid-19 in humans, the use of the product without medical advice is contraindicated – according to the leaflet itself – for pregnant or breastfeeding women and for children under 5 years of age. The manufacturers also warn that it “should be administered with caution to patients using medications that depress the Central Nervous System, such as medications for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, some painkillers or even alcoholic beverages.” They also report that decreased blood pressure (especially when associated with standing up) and worsening of bronchial asthma have been reported since the drug began to be marketed in several countries.”

In humans, the medicine is indicated for the treatment of various conditions caused by worms or parasites. In addition to lice, the list includes, for example, scabies, roundworm and onchocerciasis, a disease that causes damage to the skin and eyes and can lead to blindness.

It is also a veterinary product and was being misused in Brazil in lactating cows, according to Anvisa study published in October 2018. Residues of the antiparasitic were found at the time in samples of boxed milk and powdered milk. The Agency expresses in this document and reinforces in the following year that the product should not be used in animals producing milk for human consumption.

In Australia, where research in vitro showed the substance as promising in the fight against Covid-19, the Minister of Health, Jenny Mikakos, asked the population not to self-medicate or misuse the medicine.

“There is no reason to buy anti-lice treatment unless you are going to use it on your children’s hair,” she told ABC News during an interview about the pandemic.

“I'm emphasizing this because we know of cases of people abroad who heard about possible advances (in research) and then ingested drugs completely inappropriately and ended up dying.” She also drew attention to the risks of a possible run on pharmacies – as was seen in Brazil and other countries motivated by this or other substances being studied. “I don’t want to see people rushing to pharmacies or supermarkets to buy lice medication now because scientists are doing this research.”

7 out of 10 internet users in Brazil have already fallen for false stories, says research

A survey of the global social mobilization network Avaaz, published this month, shows that 110 million Brazilians, or “7 in 10 internet users have already believed in at least one Fake News about Covid-19”.

“The risks are enormous. What happens is that when you receive misleading information, false information on your app, on your social network, you can take actions that harm your own health and, in this case, harm the health of the community”, said the Avaaz campaign coordinator, Laura Moraes, in an interview with CBN radio.

“Negative power”

“Often we share thinking that we are warning, helping someone, but in reality we are encouraging someone to take an action that can make a person sick and eventually (lead) to death”, she added, about what she called “negative power of the infodemic.”

The survey identified that Brazilians believe in false information more than Americans and Italians. And he highlighted that the fake story they saw most – and which the majority fell for, thinking it was true or partially true – was that the new coronavirus was created in a secret laboratory in China (See response on the topic in the art below, produced from a survey of ISD's master's degree students in neuroengineering for the ISD series against Covid-19).

The ranking of the main misinformation that Brazilians believed also includes that “taking large doses of vitamin C can delay or even prevent infection with the new coronavirus” and that “health experts recommend drinking water regularly as this will carry the new coronavirus to your stomach, where the acidity will kill you.”

Investigation

In the state of Minas Gerais, a rumor went beyond the scope of miracle recipes or conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus – and is being investigated by the police.

In a video shared on social media, a woman reports that coffins were being buried with stones in the place of alleged victims of Covid-19, in the capital, Belo Horizonte.

“The beginning of the investigations points to the fact of production of “fake news”, with the author being held responsible for the possible crime of slanderous denunciation, defamation against a municipal public authority and also the criminal misdemeanor of producing panic and turmoil”, he said on the 5th. May, in a statement, the head of the 1st Civil Police Department in the city, General Delegate Wagner Sales.

Punishment

A bill filed with the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro provides for a fine and disclosure of the full name of anyone convicted of publishing information like this. The author suggests including the name on a public list called “Rio against Fake News”, so that “with their name exposed for all to see, generators of fake news that, in many cases, harm lives and the transparency of news, feel inhibited from reoffending.”

In Rio Grande do Norte, a state government decree provides for a fine of R$ 5,000 to R$ 25,000 and even imprisonment for anyone who spreads false content related to epidemics, endemics or pandemics, such as the current Covid-19. States such as Paraíba, Ceará and Acre adopted measures along the same lines.

Battle

The battle to combat misinformation takes place at the same time that Brazil records more than 200,000 confirmed cases of the disease and almost 14,000 deaths.

Regarding possible treatments, Gustavo Mendes, general manager of Medicines at Anvisa, reiterates that “there are indeed promising drugs and the possibility of a vaccine”, but that it is necessary to wait. To reach hospitals or market shelves, they require studies.

“We cannot put the cart before the horse without being sure that scientifically it is possible to release this medication for treatment. Because we don't want false hope. We want them to be therapies that actually work.”