Rate of reinfection with intestinal nematodes after treatment of children with mebendazole or albendazole in a highly endemic area.

Abstract

The comparative efficacy of albendazole and mebendazole in the treatment of intestinal nematode infections were compared 3 weeks after treatment in a randomized trial among schoolchildren on Pemba Island, Tanzania. Egg counts were compared 3 weeks, 4 months and 6 months after treatment of 731 children seen on each occasion. Differences in the efficacies were apparent with some nematodes 21 d after treatment, but these were no longer apparent 4 months after treatment, and by 6 months intensities of infection were similar to pre-treatment levels. These findings suggest that treatment of schoolchildren every 4 months may be necessary in this highly endemic area in order to have an impact on the intensity of intestinal nematode infections sufficient to be likely to reduce morbidity.

• Authors: M Albonico, P G Smith, E Ercole, A Hall, H M Chwaya, K S Alawi, L Savioli
• Journal: Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg) 1995 Sep-Oct Vol. 89 Issue 5 Pg. 538-41 ISSN: 0035-9203 [Print] England
• PMID: 8560535 (Publication Type: Clinical Trial, Comparative Study, Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antinematodal Agents
• Mebendazole
• Albendazole

Topics

• Albendazole (therapeutic use)
• Antinematodal Agents (therapeutic use)
• Ascariasis (drug therapy)
• Child
• Feces (parasitology)
• Hookworm Infections (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic (drug therapy)
• Mebendazole (therapeutic use)
• Parasite Egg Count
• Recurrence
• Sampling Studies
• Tanzania
• Time Factors
• Treatment Outcome
• Trichuriasis (drug therapy)