Thomas Goetz

Imagine that you are a worm.

A very specific kind of worm, Uncocerca volvulus.

Your goal in life, your mission, your only purpose is to worm your way into the human body.

You are a parasite.

You need the human body to survive and to thrive.

Humans, perhaps understandably, do not care for you.

They curse you and your larvae, your larvae especially, because once they get into humans, they squirm everywhere.

They crawl into legs, and they cause unbelievable itching, horrible, infernal itching.

And when they writhe into the eyes, humans go blind.

For centuries, there was nothing humans could do but spite you.

But then they found a pill, a horrible pill that kills your darlings.

This pill, ivermectin, makes life very difficult for a parasite.

Welcome to Drug Story.

I'm Thomas Goetz.

Today's drug is ivermectin, which truly is a wonder drug, a veritable miracle cure.

It is really, really good at killing parasites that cause diseases like river blindness or elephantiasis.

These tropical diseases mostly happen in Africa or South America or parts of Asia.

Ivermectin is also effective against hookworm, which a century ago was endemic in the southern United States.

And it's good on heartworm, which affects pets, dogs, and cats.

And it kills parasites in horses or other livestock.