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Syed Mohammad Khizar Azmat Fatema Raafia Ali Maria Farooqi

Abstract

Background: Scabies is a highly contagious disease of the skin that is caused by Sarcoptesscabiei which is an ectoparasite. Two commonly used drugs for its treatment are oral ivermectin and topical permethrin and these are thought to be more effective than all the other drugs that had been previously used for the treatment of Scabies.Objective: The present study aims to the comparison of safety and efficacy of topical permethrin and oral ivermectin to treat scabies.Study design: A randomized controlled trialPlace and Duration: This multi centric study was conducted in multiple dermatology centers of Saudi Arabia from June 2021 to June 2022Methodology: This study was conducted in various dermatology outpatient department of the country. A total of 110 patients were included in the study. The age of the patients ranged from 2 years to 60 years. Participants were selected from both genders. All the participants were equally divided into two groups, group A and group B. Group A was administered oral ivermectin in a single dose of 200 µg/kg and group B was administered topical permethrin 5% cream. The patients in group B were instructed to use the lotion on the whole body and leave the lotion for 12 hours. The patients were observed and if the given treatment did not work, a second dosage of the same treatment was given by the administration of the respective drug. Patients were called for followed up after two and four weeks of initial treatment.Results: A total of48 (87.27%) of the 55 patients in group A, which was given oral ivermectin treatment, showed complete clearance of scabietic lesions as observed after four weeks of treatment. On the other hand, 43 (78.18%) of the 55 patients in group B that was treated with topical permethrin showed recovery. The difference was not significant (p=0.15). However, 9(16.36%) patients in group A complained of side effects of oral ivermectin such as headache, secondary bacterial infection, and increased itching. Whereas, no such side effect was seen in group B. There was a significant difference in the side effects of both drugs (p<0.05).Conclusion: Overall, permethrin and ivermectin are equally effective in the treatment of scabies. Oral ivermectin can have side effects sometimes.

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Keywords

Scabies, ivermectin, permethrin, itching, side effects

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