Drug efficacy of praziquantel and albendazole in school children in Mwea Division, Central Province, Kenya

Efficacy and side effects of praziquantel in the treatment of Schistosomiasis mansoni in schoolchildren in Shesha Kekele Elementary School, Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia

“…In conclusion, the present findings revealed relatively lower cure (73.6%) and egg reduction (68.2%) rates of the PZQ (Medochemie Ltd, Limassol) evaluated as compared to most previous reports for the Biltricide襅, Distocide襅and other brands [29,32,44] . Hence, in depth studies are recommended to clarify whether the present low cure rates are due to treatment failure or the actual efficacy of the drug.…”

“…Also, high percent of S. mansoni infection (74.9%) in general and heavy infection cases (42.4%, 95/224) in particular before treatment in our study population might have decreased the cure rate of the drug. Unlike the present study, previous studies which documented higher efficacy (>85%) for PZQ were conducted in areas of lower S. mansoni prevalence (<51%) and light intensity infection [30][31][32] .…”

“…These values are in general within the usual cure rate ranges (63-95%) of PZQ against S. mansoni reported in different epidemiological settings [4,[26][27][28] . Some previous studies have reported efficacy higher than 85% for PZQ [29][30][31][32][33][34] , while others have reported lower (<63%) efficacy for the drug [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]35,36] . Such variations might be attributable to differences in the number of treatment, factors related to the host, parasite, and drugs or to the methodology.…”

Soil transmitted helminth infections and schistosomiasis in school age children in sub-Saharan Africa: Efficacy of chemotherapeutic intervention since World Health Assembly Resolution 2001

“…Furthermore, the findings of this review indicated that benzimidazoles exhibited considerable cure rates and egg reduction rates particularly against A. lumbricoides and hookworms (Guyatt et al, 2001;Jinabhai et al, 2001;Saathoff et al, 2004b;Adugna et al, 2007;Kihara et al, 2007;) and aside from reducing the load of worms, benzimidazole treatment has been shown to improve the nutritional status and cognitive development of children infected with A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworms and reduces hookworm associated anaemia in children (Albonico et al, 1996;Stoltzfus et al, 1998). On the other hand studies reviewed indicated that a single oral dose of 40 mg of praziquantel per kg of body weight was safe, showed no or only a few but transient side effects, but resulted in high parasitological cure and egg reduction rates against both S. mansoni and S. haematobium (Berhe et al, 1999;Taylor et al, 2001;Guyatt et al, 2001;Degu et al, 2002;Saathoff et al, 2004a;Midzi et al, 2008).…”

“…It is pertinent to state however, that since the adoption of the WHA resolution, great progress has been made in a number of sub-Saharan African countries in the control of STH infections and schistosomiasis via mass chemotherapy among school children Adams et al, 2004;Mafe et al, 2005;King, 2006;Kihara et al, 2007;Adugna et al, 2007;Midzi et al, 2008). In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa there is currently a growing awareness of the public health significance of these helminth infections which previously were grossly neglected, and concerted advocacy for their control has resulted in increased political will and financial means to combat them (Keiser & Utzinger, 2008).…”