In vitro Susceptibility of Scabies Mite to Ivermectin & Permethrin

Scabies is one of the most important infectious diseases of the under previliged population. We follow the recommended treatments but find many of our patients returning to the clinic with the relapse. Ivermectin has worked wonders with river blindness. It is already in the market for topical use in pediculosis. We did this study to look into the future role of topical ivermectin in scabies treatment, though oral ivermectin is already being used for it. In vitro studies have been done in past, looking into susceptibility of the scabies mite to various available drugs. We used the same principle and compared the standard recommended treatment ie permethrin with the experimental drug ie ivermectin. The results are encouraging, and we expect that topical ivermectin will have an important role in treatment of scabies in near future.