Taking into consideration some statements about better efficacy and good tolerability of
mebendazole and since
thiabendazole has not been produced in our country the past few years we have conducted a study evaluating
mebendazole, in comparison with
thiabendazole in the treatment of patients with
strongyloidiasis.
Strongyloidiasis is a disease that should be treated with an effective and active
drug since it can rapidly progress and be fatal in patients with disturbed immunocompetence. One hundred and ten patients with
strongyloidiasis were treated with oral
thiabendazole in a dosage of 50 mg/kg daily for two days; the other group of 41 patients was given
mebendazole in a dosage of 10 mg/kg/day orally for five days. Clinical evaluations, parasitologic and hematologic tests were performed within three months after the
therapy. Patients were considered to have been cured if parasitologic findings were negative and abnormal blood
eosinophilia decreased below 0.09 (733/microliters). According to these criteria
thiabendazole was effective in 96.4% of patients and
mebendazole in 44% of patients only. We conclude that
thiabendazole has still to be regarded the
drug of choice in treating patients with
strongyloidiasis.
Mebendazole is far less effective in patients with this
helminthiasis and very probably only suppresses the
infection. The reports of other studies on the effect of some of the newer
benzimidazole antihelmintics as
cambendazole,
albendazole and
flubendazole have shown that they are toxic or less effective in the treatment of
strongyloidiasis.