The short-term impact of albendazole treatment on Oesophagostomum bifurcum and hookworm infections in northern Ghana

• Published in: Annals of tropical medicine and parasitology Vol. 98; no. 4; pp. 385 - 390
• Main Authors: Ziem, J.B., Kettenis, I.M.J., Bayita, A., Brienen, E.A.T., Dittoh, S., Horton, J., Olsen, A., Magnussen, P., Polderman, A.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Leeds Taylor & Francis 01.06.2004; Maney Publishing
• Subjects: Albendazole - therapeutic use; Animals; Anthelmintics - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Endemic Diseases; General aspects; Ghana - epidemiology; Hookworm Infections - drug therapy; Hookworm Infections - epidemiology; Human infectious diseases. Experimental studies and models; Humans; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Oesophagostomiasis - drug therapy; Oesophagostomiasis - epidemiology; Oesophagostomum - isolation & purification; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Ghana; Africa; Human; Anthelmintic; Parasitosis; Helminthiasis; Hookworm infection; Infection; Chemotherapy; Albendazole; Treatment; Benzimidazole derivatives; Nematode disease; Parasiticide; Tropical medicine
• ISSN: 0003-4983; 1364-8594
• DOI: 10.1179/000349804225003370

In November-December 2002, stool samples from a random sample of the human population (N = 190) in the Garu area of northern Ghana were checked for intestinal helminths, using a single Kato smear and duplicate coprocultures for each subject. All 190 subjects were subsequently treated with a single, 400-mg dose of albendazole and 146 of them were successfully re-examined 21-28 days post-treatment. Prior to treatment, 75.5% of the Kato smears were found to contain 'hookworm-like' eggs (with a geometric mean egg count among the positives of 578 eggs/g faeces), and the third-stage larvae of Oesophagostomum bifurcum and hookworm were found in the cultures of stools from 34.2% and 77.4% of the subjects, respectively. Among the subjects who had positive Kato smears before treatment, albendazole treatment led to a cure 'rate' of 79.0% and an egg-reduction 'rate' of 73.5%. The results from the coprocultures indicated cure 'rates' of 98.0% for O. bifurcum but only 51.3% for hookworm. Only one subject was still positive for O. bifurcum after treatment. Among those still positive for hookworm after treatment, the larva-reduction 'rate' was 79.8%. The egg-/larva-reduction 'rates' among those with heavy infections prior to treatment were >90%, whether the data analysed came from the Kato smears or the coprocultures. It may be concluded that a single dose of albendazole is very likely to cure an O. bifurcum infection and to reduce greatly the intensity (but not the prevalence) of any hookworm infections.