An Ohio judge has ordered a local hospital to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, a drug most commonly used for livestock that has not been approved as a treatment for the virus, local ABC affiliate WCPO reports.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Gregory Howard ordered the doctors treating Jeffery Smith to "immediately administer ivermectin," which is typically used as a dewormer for livestock. Smith will receive 30mg of ivermectin for the next three weeks.

Smith’s wife, Julie Smith, brought the case after her husband was placed on a ventilator following 19 days at West Chester Hospital. Smith reportedly asked Ohio physician Fred Wagshul, who has advocated for using ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, to prescribe the drug for her husband, but the staff at the hospital refused to administer the ivermectin.

The Food and Drug Administration, which approved the drug for use in patients who have conditions caused by parasitic worms, has issued a warning against using ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment saying that "taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm."

"Animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we do — a ton or more," the FDA wrote. "Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans."

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