Ivermectin: Synergistic Activity and Clinical Review

Two new papers on ivermectin provide evidence for synergistic anti-lice activity when combined with antibiotics.

A recent study by Sangare et al., published in the March 2016 International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents demonstrated that there is a significant difference in the survival of lice when a combination treatment of antibiotics and ivermectin is used as opposed to ivermectin alone.

In vitro tests on lice showed marked synergy between ivermectin and a variety of antibiotics, lowering lice survival rates sharply with high significance. The findings suggest that the synergistic effect of combinations of antibiotics and ivermectin could be used to achieve complete eradication of lice and to prevent lice resistance populations.

Secondly, a study by Kircik et al., published in the March 2016 Journal of Drugs in Dermatology suggests that there are low rates of adverse events from using ivermectin as a treatment for parasitic head lice.

Ivermectin was granted approval for lice treatment by the FDA in 2012. Studies since then have shown it to be broadly safe, although caution should be shown with unauthorised groups.