BREAKING! Extensive Ivermectin Misuse During The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Possibly Leading To Rising Cases Of Drug Resistant Scabies!
Scabies - drug resistant-ivermectin Mar 12, 2023 1 year, 8 months, 1 week, 3 days, 6 hours, 38 minutes ago
There are is now growing worries that extensive misuse of ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic could be leading to the rise of cases of
drug resistant scabies.
Already in the Netherlands, reports are emerging that infections involving scabies are rising to a new all-time high.
https://nltimes.nl/2023/03/06/scabies-cases-rising-netherlands-especially-among-toddlers-overijssel
According to Dutch research institute Nivel, the peak is at its highest since early December. Currently, 42 out of 100,000 people suffer from the scabies! There is a striking number of infestations among children between zero and four years old in Overijssel. At the beginning of December, the number of infections per 100,000 people was 44.
The number of people with scabies is much higher than last year around the same time. Then it was 17 per 100,000 people. In the years before, the number fluctuated around 10. The most recent increase shows something striking: a strong increase in the number of patients from zero to four years. This is remarkable, because scabies is most common among young people aged 15 to 24.
Scabies is an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis). The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs. The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash.
Typically, permethrin is the drug of choice for the treatment of scabies. Topical permethrin should be administered every 2-3 days for 1-2 weeks to treat crusted scabies. Benzyl benzoate 25% (with or without tea tree oil) Benzyl benzoate may be used as an alternative topical agent to permethrin.
However, scabies outbreaks in nursing homes and cases of crusted scabies may require combination therapy consisting of topical application of permethrin and 2 oral doses of ivermectin at 200 μg/kg (administered 1 wk apart).
With the debut of the COVID-19 pandemic, the drug Ivermectin has been misused by many not in terms of using it as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent against the SARS-CoV-2 virus although it does not work on the new Omicron variants and sub-lineages, but in terms of also mis-dosing and overdosing!
Such extensive use of ivermectin can lead to the emergence of drug resistant mites.
In fact, the emergence of such drug resistant mites are already being reported in various individual cases in various countries across the world including the United States.
Already even before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ivermectin resistant scabies was also frequently reported!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5708620/
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/39/1/e8/318131
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dth.15
260
Worryingly at the same time, resistant to topical permethrin is also emerging and growing in scabies especially since the start of COVID-19 crisis.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jdv.17339
https://www.dermatologyadvisor.com/home/topics/general-dermatology/scabies-management-a-growing-resistance-to-permethrin/
https://www.practiceupdate.com/content/scabies-is-becoming-less-sensitive-to-permethrin-therapy/122172
While more detailed research is warranted as to how ivermectin misuse is driving drug resistant scabies and whether any other factors are driving drug resistant scabies including the direct or indirect roles of SARS-CoV-2 infections, the incidence of scabies in rising around the world.
Even Turkey reported that cases are rising exponentially in the last two years and that in many cases, treatments with the existing protocols are ineffective.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/scabies-cases-on-rise-for-two-years-experts-warn-180212
Recently, even the University of Florida reported that scabies cases were reported on its campus!
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/02/20/unf-dealing-with-rising-cases-of-scabies-among-students/
Many other countries are also reporting growing incidences of scabies in the last three years!
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s15010-022-01763-5
No studies have yet to study as to whether Ivermectin misuse has been caused the emergence of any drug resistant round worms yet.
However recent studies show that Ivermectin misuse in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is leading to dysbiosis which in return could affect the immune system!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35218001/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1286457922001502
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/new-york-university-study-finds-that-sars-cov-2-infection-causes-gut-microbiome-dysbiosis-that-increases-risk-for-bacterial-infections
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33900697/
https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/27165
For the latest on
drug resistant scabies, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.
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