What agents are used to treat scabies?

Sixty grams of 5% permethrin cream should be applied at night from the neck down with special attention to the subungual areas on the fingernails and the genitalia as well as the waistline. The cream should be removed in the morning and the clothes and linen from the night before should be thoroughly washed in hot water and dried. This entire procedure should be repeated in 4 to 5 days. All members of the family should be treated to eliminate asymptomatic, incubating cases. A shortened two-hour application may be used in pregnancy, if indicated.

Between 5% and 10% sulfur ointment may be applied every day for 3 days after a tepid or lukewarm bath. This method is particularly attractive to use in pregnant or lactating women and infants under the age of 2 months. Ivermectin 200 to 400 µg/kg may be administered twice, two weeks apart (not FDA approved). Until further data becomes available, this therapy should not be used in young children or pregnant/breast-feeding women.

Karthikeyan K: Treatment of scabies: newer perspectives, Postgrad Med J 81:7–11, 2005.

Bolognia JL, Jorizzo JL, Rapini R Petal: Dermatology, Spain, 2008, Mosby-Elsevier.