Abstract: International Journal of Infectious Diseases 103 (2021) 214–216 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Infectious Diseases journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijid Short Communication A five-day course of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 may reduce the duration of illness Sabeena Ahmeda , Mohammad Mahbubul Karima , Allen G. Rossa , Mohammad Sharif Hossaina , John D. Clemensa , Mariya Kibtiya Sumiyaa , Ching Swe Phrua , Mustafizur Rahmana , Khalequ Zamana , Jyoti Somanib , Rubina Yasminc , Mohammad Abul Hasnatd , Ahmedul Kabire , Asma Binte Aziza , Wasif Ali Khana,* a International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore c Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh d Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh e Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh b A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received 24 November 2020 Accepted 26 November 2020 Ivermectin, a US Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-parasitic agent, was found to inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in vitro. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to determine the rapidity of viral clearance and safety of ivermectin among adult SARS-CoV-2 patients. The trial included 72 hospitalized patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who were assigned to one of three groups: oral ivermectin alone (12 mg once daily for 5 days), oral ivermectin in combination with doxycycline (12 mg ivermectin single dose and 200 mg doxycycline on day 1, followed by 100 mg every 12 h for the next 4 days), and a placebo control group. Clinical symptoms of fever, cough, and sore throat were comparable among the three groups. Virological clearance was earlier in the 5-day ivermectin treatment arm when compared to the placebo group (9.7 days vs 12.7 days; p = 0.02), but this was not the case for the ivermectin + doxycycline arm (11.5 days; p = 0.27). There were no severe adverse drug events recorded in the study. A 5-day course of ivermectin was found to be safe and effective in treating adult patients with mild COVID-19. Larger trials will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/). Keywords: Ivermectin Doxycycline COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Bangladesh