How many confirmed deaths have been linked to ivermectin toxicity worldwide?
Executive summary
There is no single, authoritative global tally of confirmed deaths attributable to ivermectin toxicity; available reporting offers scattered case series and individual reports rather than a comprehensive worldwide count [1] [2]. Specific jurisdictions and medical publications document a small number of deaths plausibly linked to ivermectin overdose or poisoning, but heterogeneity in case definitions and causality assessment prevents aggregation into a reliable global total [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. What the data actually are: scattered signals, not a global registry
Surveillance in poison-control systems and in the medical literature produced episodic reports—U.S. poison centers recorded surges in exposures during 2021 but reported case-series-level outcomes rather than a consolidated death count [2] [7]; the Indian Health Service warned that toxic doses can result in seizures, coma, or death but did not publish a global fatality number [1]. Peer‑reviewed clinical series from single centers likewise report small absolute numbers: an Oregon Poison Center review of 37 medically attended ivermectin exposures found one death during the study window [3]. These datasets show that monitoring occurred unevenly and locally, so they cannot be summed to a worldwide confirmed-death figure without risking double counting or misattribution [2] [1].
2. Concrete, documented fatalities cited in the literature and reporting
A small number of deaths have been explicitly described: two deaths in New Mexico were publicly linked to ivermectin toxicity by state health officials in 2021 [4], and at least one case report documented a death attributed to transdermal ivermectin poisoning with toxicologic confirmation in 2025 [5] [8]. Earlier literature raised concern about 15 deaths among nursing‑home residents after combined scabies treatments including ivermectin in the 1990s, but the authors of subsequent analyses stressed unclear causality and conflicting follow-up data [6]. Each of these items is a documented, localized event in the record, but none constitutes a comprehensive count of all global ivermectin‑related deaths [6] [4] [5].
3. Why a simple worldwide number is not supportable from these sources
Available sources combine poison‑center call volumes, small retrospective case series, isolated case reports, and public‑health press releases, each with different inclusion criteria and variable toxicologic confirmation [2] [3] [5] [4]. Public‑health advisories warn that severe toxicity “can” lead to death but stop short of enumerating worldwide confirmed fatalities because national reporting systems and toxicology confirmation are inconsistent or absent [1]. Historical reports and modern case reports also differ on causality assessments—some deaths occurred in frail, comorbid patients after multiple topical and systemic agents were used, complicating attribution to ivermectin alone [6].
4. Balance, caveats and competing narratives
Advocates for ivermectin’s off‑label use have emphasized anecdotes and selective series, while public‑health agencies and poison centers have focused on rising exposure calls and rare but severe adverse events; both perspectives are visible in the record [7] [2]. The literature also documents biological plausibility for severe neurotoxicity in special circumstances—ABCB1 transporter defects can heighten risk of neurologic harm, and rare human cases of serious neurologic toxicity have been described—yet these do not translate into a quantified global death toll in the reviewed sources [9]. Some reports imply higher risk from veterinary formulations or massive overdoses, further complicating counts because product type and dose are variably reported [3] [10].
5. Bottom line and responsible answer
Based on the provided sources, it is not possible to state a defensible, single number for “confirmed deaths linked to ivermectin toxicity worldwide” because no global surveillance dataset or systematic tally is cited; the published and official records document discrete fatalities—for example, two deaths reported in New Mexico [4], one death in an Oregon series [3], a toxicologically confirmed transdermal poisoning fatality [5] [8], and an unresolved historical cluster discussed in The Lancet [6]—but these cannot be aggregated into a verified worldwide total without extrapolation beyond the sources. Any claim of a precise global figure would overstate what the available data support [1] [2].