[Ivermectin, a broad spectrum antiparasitic drug]

Ivermectine, derived from beta avermectines, monocyclic lactones produced by Streptomyces avermitilis, is a potent oral microfilaricide used by veterinaries since 1981. The anti-filarial activity is two-fold: both microfilaricide and embryotoxic in female adults; it has no activity on the latter.

Ivermectine is the treatment of choice in onchocercosis, induced by the nematode Onchocerca volvulus, and was included in the onchocercosis control program (programme de contrôle de l'onchocercose (OCP) in 1987. Ivermectine has also demonstrated efficacy on other filaries (Wuchereria bancrofti, Loa loa), in intestinal nematodes (Ascaris lumbricoïdes, Strongyloides stercoralis) and in parasite nematodes in man (larva migrans ankylosis).

Its activity has been recently extended to ectoparasitosis: sarcoptes and pediculosis of the scalp.