Treatment of scabies with ivermectin

The authors report six new cases of patients suffering from severe infestation with the mite sarcoptes scabiei, treated with ivermectin, currently the only oral therapy available for this disease. Each patient received 200 mug/kg of ivermectin, taken as single dose. No topical therapy was undertaken, except for topical treatment with emollient, as needed. The drug was very effective in all cases, easy to use, safe, and particularly useful in those patients with secondary eczematisation and escoriations, for whom the topical treatments are irritant and less well tolerated.