Trial showing ivermectin safety in small children could spur progress against several neglected tropical diseases
2025-11-10
(Press-News.org)
Trial Showing Ivermectin Safety in Small Children Could Spur Progress Against Several Neglected Tropical Diseases
TORONTO (November 10, 2025)—Millions of very young children currently excluded from treatment with the drug ivermectin could be safely included in ongoing campaigns against challenging and often neglected tropical diseases such as intestinal worms, scabies and river blindness, according to results from a clinical trial presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).
“Our double-blind study, which was conducted in Gambia, Kenya and Brazil with 240 participants, found that ivermectin can be given to young children who weigh as little 5 kilograms or about 11 pounds—and that’s significant because these children are particularly vulnerable to the many diseases currently treatable by ivermectin,” said Kevin Kobylinski, PhD, a University of Oxford honorary visiting research fellow with the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok and the lead author of the study.
He said that existing manufacturer labeling restricts giving ivermectin to children under 15 kilograms. Kobylinski said there was interest in revisiting the restriction after an analysis of a large number of ivermectin studies revealed instances in which children who weighed as little as 5 kilograms received the drug without any reports of serious problems. “Outcomes from the Ivermectin Safety in Small Children trial will hopefully provide greater reassurance that ivermectin can be safely used in children weighing less than 15 kilograms,” Kobylinski said.
Ivermectin is often administered in what are known as mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns in which the population of entire villages receives the medicine. Kobylinski noted that including small children in these efforts could have a big impact. For example, he said that:
Small children are most at risk from stunting and cognitive complications caused by infections with ivermectin-susceptible intestinal worms.
There is evidence that ivermectin can suppress malaria transmission, but only if MDA campaigns reach about 70% of the targeted population, a percentage that is difficult to achieve when excluding children under 15 kilograms.
Ivermectin MDA campaigns are a mainstay of efforts to eliminate onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness. It can take several years of exposure to onchocerciasis parasites before they affect vision—meaning that delaying treatment until children are older can still prevent blindness. However, infections at a very young age may trigger immune reactions that lead to a form of debilitating onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy known as nodding syndrome.
Young children are especially vulnerable to scabies, a parasitic infestation that causes intense itching along with skin sores that, as they fester, can lead to bacterial infections and other complications.
“Ivermectin has provided a foundation of some of the most successful interventions in global health, and evidence that it could be safely given to young children could help this work achieve an even greater impact,” said ASTMH President David Fidock, PhD, the CS Hamish Young Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
###
About the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, founded in 1903, is the largest international scientific organization of experts dedicated to reducing the worldwide burden of tropical infectious diseases and improving global health. It accomplishes this through generating and sharing scientific evidence, informing health policies and practices, fostering career development, recognizing excellence, and advocating for investment in tropical medicine/global health research. For more information, visit astmh.org.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-11-10
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [November 10, 2025] — New research in the November 2025 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network explores the perceptions regarding the effectiveness of team-based and technology-based approaches for supportive care for people with cancer. The ongoing supportive care study includes discussions on patient goals, values, and preferences, in addition to symptom management. According to the results from this mixed-methods study, 87.5% of team-based clinic participants perceived that method is more ...
2025-11-10
New York, NY (November 10 2025) — In a high honor, Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD, a leading inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will deliver the 31st Anatomy Lesson on Thursday, November 20, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His lecture, “Tackling the Growing Problem of Immune Diseases—Crohn’s Disease as an Example,” will explore Mount Sinai’s pioneering work in the early detection, prevention, and treatment of IBD.
The Anatomy Lesson, an annual public lecture organized by Amsterdam UMC, invites leading international physicians and researchers to reflect on medicine’s ...
2025-11-10
When researchers look for potential cancer therapy targets, they typically go after protein-coding genes that participate in disease progression. Disrupt them and negate whatever role they play in cancer’s development or spread. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have also been working on another kind of target. They’re studying a long non-coding RNA called MALAT1. So far, it’s been linked to more than 20 different types of tumors.
In a new and unique study published in Molecular Therapy: Oncology, CSHL researchers track MALAT1 levels ...
2025-11-10
ORLANDO (NOV. 9, 2025) – Allergist Cherie Zachary, MD, of Bloomington, MN was installed as president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) at the ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting on November 10 in Orlando. Allergist David Stukus, MD, of Columbus, OH, was elected ACAAI president-elect.
Other newly-elected ACAAI officers are Maureen Petersen, MD, of Clayton, NC, as vice president and Melinda Rathkopf, MD, MBA, of Atlanta, GA, as treasurer. Regents elected for three-year terms include Christopher C. Chang, MD, PhD, MBA, Hollywood, Florida, Mitchell H. Grayson, MD, Columbus, OH, and Jay A. Lieberman, ...
2025-11-10
More than 99% of the world’s 7.7 billion people have one or more of their environmental rights threatened, according to new research.
In the most comprehensive analysis of inequality in environmental conditions to date, CU Boulder researchers revealed that nearly half of the global population lives in regions facing three or more environmental problems. Those include polluted air, unsafe water, extreme heat, food insecurity and biodiversity loss.
The analysis was published September 25 in Environmental Research Communications.
It provides strong ...
2025-11-10
A hormone produced in the thyroid gland can play a key role in the development of prostate cancer. This is shown in a new study by an international research group led by Umeå University, Sweden, and the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. By blocking a receptor for the hormone, the growth of tumour cells in the prostate was inhibited. In the long term, the discovery may open up a new way of attacking certain types of aggressive prostate cancer.
"The results indicate that the receptor in question is a driving force in the growth of cancer. Substances that block it could thus be a target for future drugs against prostate cancer," ...
2025-11-10
New Curtin University research has found invasive cane toads are on track to reach Western Australia’s Pilbara region within the next 10 to 20 years, threatening to cause widespread losses among native species and significant cultural and economic harm.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, predicts that without containment efforts, the toxic amphibians will colonise up to 75 per cent of the Pilbara within three decades, putting 25 native species at risk of serious population declines. These include several species of native marsupial predators like northern quolls, ghost bat and kaluta, as well as frog-eating snakes, blue-tongue skinks and goannas.
Of ...
2025-11-10
As world leaders begin COP30 climate negotiations in Brazil this week, an international team co-led by a University of Sydney researcher has warned of a hidden crisis undermining global biodiversity and carbon targets: the quiet abandonment of conservation projects.
The comment paper, ‘Conservation abandonment is a policy blind spot’, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, was co-led by Dr Matthew Clark, a postdoctoral researcher in the Thriving Oceans Research Hub at the University of Sydney and an honorary research associate in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College ...
2025-11-10
Iron deficiency is globally widespread. Women are particularly affected, with one in five in Europe suffering from iron deficiency. The consequences are anaemia, constant fatigue, chronic headaches and a weakened immune system. Researchers led by ETH professor Raffaele Mezzenga have now developed a new dietary supplement that could efficiently treat iron deficiency and anaemia. This development is being co-led by Michael B. Zimmermann, professor emeritus at ETH Zurich. The preparation consists of edible oat protein ...
2025-11-10
Understanding the properties of different materials is an important step in material design. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is an important technique for this, as it reveals detailed insights about a material’s composition, structure, and functional characteristics. The technique works by directing a beam of high-energy X-rays at a sample and recording how X-rays of different energy levels are absorbed. Similar to how white light splits into a rainbow after passing through a prism, XAS produces a spectrum of X-rays with different energies. This spectrum is called as spectral data, which acts like an unique fingerprint of a material, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Trial showing ivermectin safety in small children could spur progress against several neglected tropical diseases
