No, Ivermectin Is Not Proven To Treat Hantavirus

BreakingBusinessNo, Ivermectin Is Not Proven To Treat HantavirusByMary Whitfill Roeloffs,Forbes Staff. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes breaking news reporter covering pop culture.Follow AuthorMay 07, 2026, 03:23pm EDTMay 07, 2026, 03:23pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.ToplineDoctors and public health experts are warning against a viral claim that the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin could treat hantavirus, the disease behind a cruise ship outbreak that has killed three people and sickened a handful of others. A health worker shows a box containing a bottle of Ivermectin.AFP via Getty ImagesKey FactsDr. Dana Mazo, an infectious disease specialist at Tisch Hospital in New York, told Forbes there is no data to support the claim ivermectin can treat hantavirus in human patients and is warning against such “misinformation” that can “cause confusion, prevent people from following the recommendations that can actually help them and can hurt people.” The idea of treating hantavirus with ivermectin, most commonly used as a dewormer for livestock, has spread online after Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a doctor who was reprimanded by the Texas Medical Board for prescribing the medicine to a COVID patent in 2021, posted it to X in a tweet that has been viewed 3.5 million times. Bowden on Wednesday posted that hantavirus is an RNA virus—a category which Mazo says encompasses a “huge group” of very differently behaving viruses—and therefore ivermectin should work against it, but while the drug has shown promise in inhibiting viral replication of RNA viruses in some lab settings, those results have not been proven to work in human patients.Mazo says it is dangerous to suggest a scientific test in a lab setting will translate to human patients without further study and, that in this case, there has not been any testing of ivermectin against hantavirus specifically, even in lab tests. Bowden’s claim was amp...