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

Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1995 Sep-Oct;89(5):538-41. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(95)90101-9.

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.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Comparative Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 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

Substances

  • Antinematodal Agents
  • Mebendazole
  • Albendazole