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

Author(s): Albonico M, Smith PG, Ercole E, Hall A, Chwaya HM, Alawi KS, Savioli L

Affiliation(s): Programme of Intestinal Parasitic Infections, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Publication date & source: 1995-09, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg., 89(5):538-41.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

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.