Mass Administration of Ivermectin to Control the Spread of Malaria
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Reviewed & Translated by Dat Tien Nguyen, B.A, ScM.
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Posted on August 18th, 2025
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Malaria is a widespread mosquito-borne disease that can be effectively controlled with insecticide and the usage of bed nets. However, insecticide resistance and behavior adaptation of the vector can pose significant challenges to the current public health intervention. With funding from the international organization UNITAID, a study was conducted to assess the usage of ivermectin to prevent malaria transmission.
The cluster-randomized trial was conducted in Kenya, and it included around 29 thousands participants divided into 84 clusters. Members in the community had an average age of 50 years old, and around 38% of the population are children younger than 5 years old. The study was initiated in October of 2023, the start of the rainy season, with a median precipitation of 65 mm. The 84 clusters were randomly selected to be treated once monthly with either ivermectin or albendazole for 3 months. Ivermectin was given at a dose of 400 microgram per kilogram of body weight and albendazole was given at a fixed 400 milligram dose. Albendazole was chosen as control due to its lack of antimalarial activity.
After 3 months, the researchers found that ivermectin reduced the incidence of malaria in children between 5 and 15 years old by 26%. With a modestly low level and frequency adverse event profile, the authors concluded that mass ivermectin administration might be an effective public health intervention to prevent the spread of malaria and other soil-transmitted helminths and filariae. One notable limitation of this study is the exclusion of children with body weight below 15 kilograms. Malnutrition might lead to immune exhaustion and would have increased the susceptibility to malaria.
The cluster-randomized trial was conducted in Kenya, and it included around 29 thousands participants divided into 84 clusters. Members in the community had an average age of 50 years old, and around 38% of the population are children younger than 5 years old. The study was initiated in October of 2023, the start of the rainy season, with a median precipitation of 65 mm. The 84 clusters were randomly selected to be treated once monthly with either ivermectin or albendazole for 3 months. Ivermectin was given at a dose of 400 microgram per kilogram of body weight and albendazole was given at a fixed 400 milligram dose. Albendazole was chosen as control due to its lack of antimalarial activity.
After 3 months, the researchers found that ivermectin reduced the incidence of malaria in children between 5 and 15 years old by 26%. With a modestly low level and frequency adverse event profile, the authors concluded that mass ivermectin administration might be an effective public health intervention to prevent the spread of malaria and other soil-transmitted helminths and filariae. One notable limitation of this study is the exclusion of children with body weight below 15 kilograms. Malnutrition might lead to immune exhaustion and would have increased the susceptibility to malaria.