Is the exclusion of children under 24 months from anthelmintic treatment justifiable?

Author(s): Montresor A, Stoltzfus RJ, Albonico M, Tielsch JM, Rice AL, Chwaya HM, Savioli L

Affiliation(s): Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. montresora@who.int

Publication date & source: 2002-03, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg., 96(2):197-9.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

There are no reports documenting toxicity or adverse effects after treatment of children aged < 24 months with benzimidazole derivatives and there is an urgent need to clarify this point in light of the potential detrimental effect that soil-transmitted helminthiasis has on this age-group. A total of 653 treatments (317 mebendazole 500 mg; 336 placebo) were administered in 1996/97 to 212 children aged < 24 months as part of a 1-year anthelmintic drug study conducted among preschool-age children in Tanzania. Data on fever, cough, diarrhoea, dysentery and acute respiratory illness were collected 1 week following the treatment. No differences between the occurrence of adverse effects in the 2 groups were observed. In light of the potential nutritional benefit achieved by regular deworming in this young age-group, the policy that excludes children aged < 24 months from treatment should be re-considered.