Ivermectin is used to treat river blindness.
 Most cases are treated with two daily doses of oral ivermectin (200 g per kg body weight), while severe infections are treated with five to seven days of ivermectin
 Ivermectin is safe for mammals (at the normal therapeutic doses used to cure parasite infections) because mammalian glutamate-gated chloride channels only occur in the brain and spinal cord: the causative avermectins usually do not cross the bloodbrain barrier, and are unlikely to bind to other mammalian ligand-gated channels

