The idea dates back to 2009, coincidentally not long after one Jim Humble started marketing what he called his “Miracle Mineral Solution”, or MMS.

“Rope worms”, or to use the scientific term, “bits of intestinal lining that have been sloughed off because you’re ingesting poison and your body can’t handle it”, have a rich history in pseudo (which is to say, anti) scientific circles. So what are these “rope worms” that so many people are apparently infested with? How are they spread? And really, what are the chances that all these people actually needed de-worming? “ been expelling rope worms with coffee enemas for a while now it’s different with … I got this tummy rumbling like I had to go with diarrhea … so I go to the pot and out comes a bile dump with full rope worms heads and all!” “Yes,” replied a fellow equine de-wormer aficionado. “Might be a stupid question but has anyone pooped out worms from taking ivermectin?” one woman asked a Facebook group devoted to the horse medicine. Ignoring even this hint that maybe their chosen curative might not be the wonder drug they’d been told, ivermectin true believers have continued dosing themselves with dangerous levels of horse de-wormer – and while their COVID-19 is probably no better, some have noticed another side effect: the appearance of “rope worms”. In fact, now the universe itself seems to have weighed in, with some of the conspiracists who managed to choke down the disgusting paste developing a nasty case of pooping themselves in public. It's got so bad that the FDA has had to issue a reminder that people are not horses.

Human worms with flat head rope worm