Oral Ivermectin should be considered as a Magic Therapy for Scabies with 98% Cure

Background: Scabies is one of the commonest endemic pruritic diseases all over the worldwide. Many topical therapeutic options for scabies are available, but none of them could be accepted by many patients as all of them need covering the whole body by ointment overnight. Accordingly patients are looking for safe oral therapy like many other diseases. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of oral ivermectin in the treatment of scabies. Patients and Methods: This single, blinded, therapeutic work was conducted in the Center of Dermatology and Venereology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq during the period from April 2018 through October 2019. Fifty of patients with scabies were involved in this study. All socio-demographic data that related to the disease were obtained from each patient. History and clinical examination was done for each case to establish the diagnosis. Fifty patients treated by ivermectin tablet 200 microgram per kg as a single dose on empty stomach and repeated after one week. The patients were seen regularly every 2 weeks for 4 weeks duration after stopping therapy, to re-asses cure and to report any local or systemic side effects. Results: A total of 50 patients were included in this study, 21 (42%) males and 29 (58%) females. The ages of males ranged from 5-47 with a mean 20.90±13.034 years; while the age range of females ranged from 3-67 (30.69±18.766) years. At the end of four weeks after stopping therapy , the response to treatment was as follows: Response in 49 (98%) patients and no response in 1 (2%) patients. No cutaneous or systemic side effects were noticed in any patients, while the recurrence or relapse rate was documented in 2 (4%) patients. Conclusion: Oral ivermectin had achieved cure of scabies in 98% of patients, hence it should be considered as a mass treatment in cases of outbreak and epidemics as it is easy to be used with no significant side effects especially when compared with topical agents.