Ivermectin and Single-Celled Parasites (Protozoa)

Ivermectin is a medicine against worms and arthropods. It acts as a potent nerve poison for many roundworms (nematodes) and arthropods such as insects and mites [1], and it is authorized to treat river blindness (onchocerciasis), lymphatic filariasis (a worm infection of the lymph vessels), the threadworm infection strongyloidiasis, and scabies [2]. Protozoa are a different kind of parasite: single-celled organisms such as the malaria parasite, Leishmania, Giardia and the amoebae. This page reports what laboratory, animal and human studies found when ivermectin was tested against them, labelling each finding by the kind of evidence.

Many readers arrive from Ivermectin for Gum Disease, where people in online chat groups and forums describe ivermectin killing parasites in the gums, the gum amoeba Entamoeba gingivalis among them. In short: most findings below come from parasites grown in the laboratory and from infected mice. The controlled human trials found are all in malaria, and in the two that measured the parasite in people, ivermectin at the doses tested neither prevented infection nor cleared the parasites significantly faster than a placebo [3][4]. No laboratory, animal or human study testing ivermectin against the gum amoeba or the mouth flagellate Trichomonas tenax was found in the published record.

Table of Contents

  1. Worms Versus Single-Celled Parasites
  2. Leishmania
  3. Trypanosomes
  4. Malaria Parasites
  5. Toxoplasma
  6. Acanthamoeba
  7. Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Babesia and Others
  8. Amoebae and Trichomonads of the Mouth
  9. Key Research Papers
  10. Connections
  11. Featured Videos

Worms Versus Single-Celled Parasites

Worms (helminths) and arthropods such as mites, lice, ticks and insects are animals with many cells, nerves and muscles. Protozoa are single cells, each with a nucleus, larger and more complex than a bacterium, with no nerves or muscles. Many switch between an active, feeding form, the trophozoite, and a tough resting form such as a cyst.

Ivermectin’s most common target is the glutamate-gated chloride channel [5], a gate in the nerve and muscle cells of worms and insects. When ivermectin holds it open, chloride floods in, the cell falls silent and the parasite is paralysed. The main Ivermectin page explains this, and why people are protected.

Protozoa are a different question. A 2022 computer analysis found that the classic structures of these channels are absent in the kinetoplastids, the group of protozoa that includes trypanosomes and Leishmania [5]. Any effect of ivermectin on them has to come about another way.

Other targets proposed by laboratory studies

The concentration question

Laboratory studies usually report the IC50 (half-maximal inhibitory concentration): the concentration of a drug that halves the parasite’s growth; the lower it is, the stronger the drug. The concentration that harms half of the host’s own cells, divided by the IC50, gives the selectivity index; the higher it is, the more the drug spares host cells. Concentrations are given in micromolar (µM) or nanomolar (nM, a thousandth of a micromolar); for ivermectin, 1 µM is about 875 nanograms per millilitre. Whether a laboratory concentration can be reached in the body is a separate question:

Leishmania

Leishmania parasites are spread by sand-fly bites. Depending on the species, they cause skin sores (cutaneous leishmaniasis) or visceral leishmaniasis, a disease of the spleen, liver and bone marrow. In the sand fly the parasite is a whip-tailed form, the promastigote; in the body it lives inside immune cells called macrophages as a small rounded form, the amastigote. Treatment of visceral leishmaniasis is held back by toxic or costly drugs and by parasite resistance [7].

Laboratory findings

Animal findings

Human findings

No study of ivermectin in people with leishmaniasis was found for this page.

Trypanosomes

Trypanosomes are whip-tailed parasites of the blood and tissues. Trypanosoma brucei, spread by tsetse flies, causes African sleeping sickness; Trypanosoma cruzi, spread by blood-sucking triatomine (“kissing”) bugs, causes Chagas disease, a long-lasting infection that can damage the heart; and Trypanosoma evansi causes surra in animals such as camels, horses and cattle. The two drugs for Chagas disease, benznidazole and nifurtimox, show limited efficacy and many side effects [5].

Laboratory findings

Animal findings

Human findings

No study of ivermectin in people with sleeping sickness or Chagas disease was found for this page.

Malaria Parasites

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, spread by Anopheles mosquitoes. After a bite, the parasites (sporozoites) multiply silently in the liver, then invade red blood cells; this blood stage causes the illness. Some become sexual forms (gametocytes) that mosquitoes take up; in the mosquito they form oocysts on the gut wall, which release new sporozoites. Plasmodium falciparum causes the most dangerous malaria; Plasmodium vivax can also rest in the liver as dormant hypnozoites; Plasmodium berghei of rodents and Plasmodium cynomolgi of monkeys are laboratory models. The malaria field turned to ivermectin mainly because it kills blood-sucking mosquitoes; its activity against the parasite itself has been only partly investigated [10].

Liver stage

A 2024 study summed up the liver-stage record: inhibition in a rodent malaria model, but none in a primate model or in a human malaria challenge trial [17].

Blood stage

In the mosquito

Ivermectin taken by people can cut malaria transmission, mainly by killing the mosquitoes that bite them; the parasites a dead mosquito carries die with it. That is a mosquito effect, not a direct effect on the parasite.

The two differ: the trial found no evidence of an effect on infection in surviving mosquitoes, while the laboratory study, with another parasite species and other mosquitoes, found fewer infected mosquitoes.

Toxoplasma

Toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis. Cats are its main host, and people catch it from undercooked meat, soil or cat faeces. In most people it stays silent as resting cysts in the brain and muscles, but it can harm unborn babies and people with weakened immune systems. Its fast-multiplying form is called the tachyzoite.

Laboratory findings

In a 2013 study of Toxoplasma gondii grown in human cells (a laryngeal cancer cell line), ivermectin significantly inhibited the multiplication of tachyzoites. After 48 hours its IC50 was 0.2 micrograms per millilitre, against 7.3 for sulfadiazine, a standard toxoplasmosis drug, and none of the concentrations tested harmed the human cells after 72 hours [21]. Another laboratory study found that ivermectin binds directly to the importin alpha of Toxoplasma gondii [6].

Animal findings

In a 2023 study, mice with a chronic brain infection, whose immune systems had been suppressed with the steroid dexamethasone, were treated with ivermectin. It reduced the size and number of Toxoplasma cysts in the brain, with a reduction rate of 68.85%, and improved the brain tissue seen under the microscope. It also raised GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a calming nerve messenger that the infection had depleted: its expression in brain tissue measured 22.1 in healthy mice, 3.78 in untreated infected mice and 19.8 in infected mice given ivermectin. In infected mice given spiramycin, a drug used against Toxoplasma, it stayed significantly below normal [22].

Human findings

No study of ivermectin in people with toxoplasmosis was found for this page.

Acanthamoeba

Acanthamoeba is a free-living amoeba of water and soil. It can cause Acanthamoeba keratitis, a painful, sight-threatening infection of the cornea seen mostly in contact-lens wearers, and, rarely, an infection of the brain.

The one direct study found is a 1996 laboratory test of Acanthamoeba castellanii against three drugs: chloroquine, ivermectin and the antifungal amphotericin B. The amoeba was sensitive to ivermectin and amphotericin B but not to chloroquine, and the authors wrote that ivermectin and amphotericin B “show promise as therapeutic agents against this parasite” [23]. Its abstract gives no concentrations.

No animal or human study of ivermectin against Acanthamoeba was found. Ivermectin for Acanthamoeba sets this single study in context, including later laboratory findings on the amoeba’s resilience to amphotericin B.

Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Babesia and Others

Giardia

Giardia lamblia is a flagellate that causes giardiasis, a common gut infection with diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and nausea. Its treatments have remained unchanged for 40 years, and resistant strains have emerged [8].

Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium causes watery diarrhoea, most dangerous for people with weakened immune systems and for malnourished children. Infected people and animals pass its hardy, egg-like oocysts in their stool, and studies measure treatment by counting them. Nitazoxanide is the drug approved for it in the United States.

Babesia and Theileria

Babesia parasites live inside red blood cells and are spread by ticks; they infect cattle, horses and dogs, and some species infect people. Theileria are related blood parasites of horses and cattle.

Amoebae and Trichomonads of the Mouth

Two single-celled parasites live in the human mouth: the gum amoeba, Entamoeba gingivalis, and Trichomonas tenax, a flagellate that swims with whip-like tails. Both live in the pockets between gums and teeth; their links with gum disease are set out on Entamoeba gingivalis: The Gum Amoeba and Trichomonas tenax.

No study of ivermectin against either mouth parasite

No laboratory, animal or human study testing ivermectin against the gum amoeba or against Trichomonas tenax was found in the published record. The literature search for this page found no study of ivermectin against any Trichomonas species, and none of the studies on this page applied ivermectin to the gums or tested it in the mouth. Whether ivermectin affects either mouth parasite has not been shown in either direction.

What exists for other Entamoeba species

A finding in one single-celled parasite cannot be assumed to hold for another, even a close relative: in the 2022 laboratory study above, ivermectin slowed Leishmania mexicana but not the related insect parasite Crithidia fasciculata [5]. The gum amoeba is a relative of Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba coli, but it has not itself been tested.

The chat-group accounts of ivermectin paste on the gums, case reports of ivermectin used against fly larvae, mites and worm larvae in the tissues of the mouth, and the 1914 episode in which gum disease was treated with an anti-amoeba drug are collected on Ivermectin for Gum Disease.

Key Research Papers

  1. Hanafi HA, Szumlas DE, Fryauff DJ, El-Hossary SS, Singer GA, Osman SG, et al. Effects of ivermectin on blood-feeding Phlebotomus papatasi, and the promastigote stage of Leishmania major. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2011;11(1):43-52. PubMed PMID: 20518644
  2. Batiha GE, Beshbishy AM, Tayebwa DS, Adeyemi OS, Yokoyama N, Igarashi I. Evaluation of the inhibitory effect of ivermectin on the growth of Babesia and Theileria parasites in vitro and in vivo. Trop Med Health. 2019;47:42. PubMed PMID: 31337949
  3. Metzger WG, Theurer A, Pfleiderer A, Molnar Z, Maihöfer-Braatting D, Bissinger AL, et al. Ivermectin for causal malaria prophylaxis: a randomised controlled human infection trial. Trop Med Int Health. 2020;25(3):380-386. PubMed PMID: 31808594
  4. Ekoka Mbassi D, Mombo-Ngoma G, Held J, Okwu DG, Ndzebe-Ndoumba W, Kalkman LC, et al. Efficacy and safety of ivermectin for the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum infections in asymptomatic male and female Gabonese adults - a pilot randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled single-centre phase Ib/IIa clinical trial. EBioMedicine. 2023;97:104814. PubMed PMID: 37839134
  5. Fraccaroli L, Ruiz MD, Perdomo VG, Clausi AN, Balcazar DE, Larocca L, et al. Broadening the spectrum of ivermectin: Its effect on Trypanosoma cruzi and related trypanosomatids. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022;12:885268. PubMed PMID: 35967842
  6. Walunj SB, Wang C, Wagstaff KM, Patankar S, Jans DA. Conservation of Importin α Function in Apicomplexans: Ivermectin and GW5074 Target Plasmodium falciparum Importin α and Inhibit Parasite Growth in Culture. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(22). PubMed PMID: 36430384
  7. Reis TAR, Oliveira-da-Silva JA, Tavares GSV, Mendonça DVC, Freitas CS, Costa RR, et al. Ivermectin presents effective and selective antileishmanial activity in vitro and in vivo against Leishmania infantum and is therapeutic against visceral leishmaniasis. Exp Parasitol. 2021;221:108059. PubMed PMID: 33338468
  8. Barzola FN, Laiolo J, Cotelo C, Joray MB, Volpini X, Rivero MR, et al. Cytotoxic effects of ivermectin on Giardia lamblia: induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Front Microbiol. 2024;15:1484805. PubMed PMID: 39545240
  9. Gupta S, Vohra S, Sethi K, Gupta S, Bera BC, Kumar S, et al. In vitro anti-trypanosomal effect of ivermectin on Trypanosoma evansi by targeting multiple metabolic pathways. Trop Anim Health Prod. 2022;54(4):240. PubMed PMID: 35869164
  10. de Carvalho LP, Sandri TL, José Tenório de Melo E, Fendel R, Kremsner PG, Mordmüller B, et al. Ivermectin Impairs the Development of Sexual and Asexual Stages of Plasmodium falciparum In Vitro. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019;63(8). PubMed PMID: 31109978
  11. Freitas CS, Lage DP, Machado AS, Vale DL, Martins VT, Cardoso JMO, et al. Exploring drug repositioning for leishmaniasis treatment: Ivermectin plus polymeric micelles induce immunological response and protection against tegumentary leishmaniasis. Cytokine. 2023;164:156143. PubMed PMID: 36774730
  12. Rahmani A, Maspi N, Hasanpour H, Falahi S, Nayeri T, Naserifar R. The Impact of Ivermectin on Immune Response and Wound Healing in a Mouse Model Infected With Leishmania major. J Trop Med. 2025;2025:5579789. PubMed PMID: 40860959
  13. Udensi UK, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF. Effect of ivermectin on Trypanosoma brucei brucei in experimentally infected mice. J Vector Borne Dis. 2012;49(3):143-50. PubMed PMID: 23135008
  14. Dias JC, Schofield CJ, Machado EM, Fernandes AJ. Ticks, ivermectin, and experimental Chagas disease. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2005;100(8):829-32. PubMed PMID: 16444412
  15. Mendes AM, Albuquerque IS, Machado M, Pissarra J, Meireles P, Prudêncio M. Inhibition of Plasmodium Liver Infection by Ivermectin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017;61(2). PubMed PMID: 27895022
  16. Vanachayangkul P, Im-Erbsin R, Tungtaeng A, Kodchakorn C, Roth A, Adams J, et al. Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Activity of High-Dose Ivermectin and Chloroquine against the Liver Stage of Plasmodium cynomolgi Infection in Rhesus Macaques. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020;64(9). PubMed PMID: 32660993
  17. Annamalai Subramani P, Tipthara P, Kolli SK, Nicholas J, Barnes SJ, Ogbondah MM, et al. Efficacy of ivermectin and its metabolites against Plasmodium falciparum liver stages in primary human hepatocytes. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2024;68(8):e0127223. PubMed PMID: 38904389
  18. Yipsirimetee A, Tipthara P, Hanboonkunupakarn B, Tripura R, Lek D, Kümpornsin K, et al. Activity of Ivermectin and Its Metabolites against Asexual Blood Stage Plasmodium falciparum and Its Interactions with Antimalarial Drugs. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2023;67(7):e0173022. PubMed PMID: 37338381
  19. Pinilla YT, C P Lopes S, S Sampaio V, Andrade FS, Melo GC, Orfanó AS, et al. Promising approach to reducing Malaria transmission by ivermectin: Sporontocidal effect against Plasmodium vivax in the South American vectors Anopheles aquasalis and Anopheles darlingi. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018;12(2):e0006221. PubMed PMID: 29444080
  20. Ouédraogo AL, Bastiaens GJ, Tiono AB, Guelbéogo WM, Kobylinski KC, Ouédraogo A, et al. Efficacy and safety of the mosquitocidal drug ivermectin to prevent malaria transmission after treatment: a double-blind, randomized, clinical trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2015;60(3):357-65. PubMed PMID: 25414262
  21. Bilgin M, Yıldırım T, Hökelek M. In Vitro Effects of Ivermectin and Sulphadiazine on Toxoplasma gondii. Balkan Med J. 2013;30(1):19-22. PubMed PMID: 25207063
  22. Fahmy MA, Shalaby MA, Issa R, Badawi M, Magdy M, Afife AA, et al. Ivermectin modulated cerebral γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and reduced the number of chronic Toxoplasma gondii cysts significantly in the brains of immunocompromised mice. J Parasit Dis. 2023;47(3):635-643. PubMed PMID: 37520203
  23. Rain AN, Radzan T, Sajiri S, Mak JW. In vitro drug susceptibility of Acanthamoeba castellani to chloroquine, ivermectin and fungizon. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 1996;27(2):319-24. PubMed PMID: 9279996
  24. Foletto VR, Vanz F, Gazarini L, Stern CA, Tonussi CR. Efficacy and security of ivermectin given orally to rats naturally infected with Syphacia spp., Giardia spp. and Hymenolepis nana. Lab Anim. 2015;49(3):196-200. PubMed PMID: 25480657
  25. Fahmy MA, Abdelaal AA, Hassan SI, Shalaby MA, Ismail MAM, Khairy RA, et al. Antiparasitic and immunomodulating effects of nitazoxanide, ivermectin and selenium on Cryptosporidium infection in diabetic mice. Rev Bras Parasitol Vet. 2021;30(4):e012121. PubMed PMID: 34852131
  26. Enas AE, Hadel MA, Emad AA, Ibrahim BE, Morsy S, Noha MA. Post-COVID-19 cryptosporidiosis: A serious risk or mere association? Trop Biomed. 2023;40(2):199-207. PubMed PMID: 37650408
  27. González-Salazar F, Mata-Cárdenas BD, Vargas-Villareal J. [Sensibility of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites to ivermectin]. Medicina (B Aires). 2009;69(3):318-20. PubMed PMID: 19622479
  28. Njoo FL, Belling GA, Oosting J, Vetter JC, Stilma JS, Kijlstra A. Concurrent parasitic infections in onchocerciasis and the occurrence of adverse reactions after ivermectin treatment. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1993;48(5):652-7. PubMed PMID: 8517484

PubMed Topic Searches

  1. PubMed: Ivermectin and protozoa
  2. PubMed: Ivermectin and Leishmania
  3. PubMed: Ivermectin and Plasmodium (malaria parasites)
  4. PubMed: Ivermectin and Toxoplasma
  5. PubMed: Ivermectin and Entamoeba
  6. PubMed: Ivermectin and Trichomonas

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Connections

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