Ivermectin Drug Might Effectively Fight Head Lice

By Margarita Nahapetyan

Stromectol pill, containing ivermectin, works much more effectively than the standard malathion-based topical lotion when it comes to getting rid of hard-to-treat head lice, says a new study by French medical researchers.

According to the study principal author Dr. Olivier Chosidow, MD, PhD, of Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, lice are parasites, which infest more than 100 million people all across the world each year. Particularly vulnerable are primary school age children between the ages of 3 and eleven years old. The experts note that since the 1990s, head parasites have become resistant to the main recommended pyrethroid-based treatments, such as Elimite, Acticin, Nix, A-200, Licide, Pronto, Pyrinyl Plus, Rid, and Tisit. In some cases, lice have also developed a strong resistance to the topical prescription medication malathion.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug made by Merck & Co., that is commonly prescribed to treat conditions, such as river blindness, threadworm and scabies, a form of skin disease. The drug is a compound from the avermectin family, which acts by blocking neurotransmissions in the brains of invertebrates. The French researchers who carried out their research on 812 head lice-infected adults and children in 376 different families in Britain, France, Ireland and Israel, have reported that Ivermectin is a promising alternative to killing head lice.

During the study, the participants were randomly assigned into one of the two treatment groups. One group received a treatment with Ivermectin on the first and the eighth days at a dose which was equivalent to 400 micrograms per kilogram, while the participants in the second group were treated with an alcohol-based malathion lotion on the same days. Medications for the study purposes were provided by the drug manufacturers.

In addition, the participants in each group were also given a placebo equivalent. Those in a group who received the treatment with the Ivermectin, were given a similarly-scented lotion on treatment days, and those in the malathion group received placebo tablets on treatment days. No other lice treatments were allowed in the study, not even combing lice eggs from the hair.

The results revealed that 95 per cent of the 398 individuals who were assigned to receive the Ivermectin treatment, got rid of lice 15 days after the treatment began, as compared to 85 per cent of the 414 participants who underwent malathion-based Prioderm. However, the experts said that there was one serious side effect in both Malathion and Invermectin groups. In particular, 7 of 398 people taking Ivermectin developed a skin infection called impetigo, as well as gastroenteritis, vomiting, nausea and convulsions. One 7-year-old child had a seizure that at a later time was not associate with the Stromectal drug. Six of the 414 people in the malathion group developed skin rashes, hives, gastroenteritis or headache.

"Ivermectin may be a good alternative to malathion when topical insecticide resistance is suspected," the study authors wrote. However, Dr. Chosidow and his team caution that Ivermectin generally should not be used as a first-line treatment, but instead recommend that it be used as a back-up option for treatment of the resistant lice. They say that overuse of Ivermectin could result in lice developing resistance to this medication as well.

The study was published in the March 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.