Comparison of Topical 5% Permethrin and Topical 10% Sulfur in the Treatment of Scabies

Plain-language summary

Sarcoptes scabiei is responsible for a skin infection called scabies. Permethrin is most widely used anti-scabicidel drug and is taken as drug of choice because of its efficacy, safety and patient's compliance. Sulfur 6-33%, as cream, ointment or lotion, is recommended by the European guidelines as an effective alternative treatment and is among the oldest treatments used for scabies. It is recommended to be applied for 3 consecutive days. Both permethrin and sulfur have been shown in previous studies to be superior to other anti-scabietic drugs in terms of efficacy. Two studies showed that permethrin was more efficacious than sulfur, whereas a single study showed otherwise. Therefore, only a few studies are available to find a direct comparison of the efficacy of topical 5% permethrin and topical 10% sulfur in the treatment of scabies and none of them have been carried out in Pakistan. The objective of the study is to compare the efficacy of topical 5% permethrin cream and sulfur 10% ointment in the treatment of scabies.

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