Treatment of human scabies by sulfur and permethrin.

Scabies is one of the most important prevalent contagious disease caused by itch mite "Sarcoptes scabiei." Many effective scabiecides have been suggested and tried. They differ in their side effects since they are applied on diseased skin sometimes all over the body. In this paper, sixteen parasitologically proved human scabies were successfully treated by 5% sulfur precipitate and 2.5% permethrin. Application of sulfur for one week or 2 applications of permethrin followed by a third one a week later proved to be safe and effective. The one week course of sulfur and the third application of permethrin acts against any emerging immature stages of the mite.