Ivermectin: A Novel Method of Treatment of Nasal and Nasopharyngeal Myiasis.

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of oral Ivermectin, in patients suffering from nasal and nasopharyngeal myiasis. This was a prospective study, comprising 80 patients of nasal and nasopharyngeal myiasis. Patients underwent clinical examination and nasal endoscopy at the time of presentation and findings were recorded. The patients were randomly divided in two groups. In group-I the patients underwent manual extraction of the maggots after instillation of chloroform and turpentine oil mixture, whereas the group-II patients underwent manual extraction with administration of two doses (24h apart) of oral Ivermectin (6mg each). The patients were instructed to record the time when they noticed shedding of maggots, and evaluated for the clearance of maggots by endoscopy after 24, 48h and 7days after the initial examination. The mean maggot shedding time (by t test) in Group-I was 41.23 ± 4.23h and in Group-II was 24.60 ± 3.15h. The difference being highly significant statistically, (p = 0.0001). The endoscopic clearance of maggots (by Chi square test) between the two group of patients was also statistically significant at 24 and 48h with p value of (p = 0.002) and (p = 0.006) respectively. Oral Ivermectin was effective in treating nasal and nasopharyngeal myiasis, in terms of early clearance, decreased morbidity and less hospital stay. We conclude that oral Ivermectin can be used as a safe and effective method for the treatment of nasal & nasopharyngeal myiasis.