The impact of baseline faecal egg counts on the efficacy of single-dose albendazole against Trichuris trichiura

B Levecke; Z Mekonnen; M Albonico; J Vercruysse

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.09.007

The impact of baseline faecal egg counts on the efficacy of single-dose albendazole against Trichuris trichiura

Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2012 Feb;106(2):128-30. doi: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.09.007. Epub 2011 Dec 19.

Authors

B Levecke¹, Z Mekonnen, M Albonico, J Vercruysse

Affiliation

¹ Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Ghent University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Merelbeke, Belgium. bruno.levecke@ugent.be

PMID: 22189084
DOI: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.09.007

Abstract

There is considerable variation in the efficacy of single-dose albendazole (400mg) against Trichuris trichiura across human trials. Factors contributing to this variation have not yet been identified. We assessed the impact of mean baseline faecal egg counts (FEC) on the efficacy of single-dose albendazole against T. trichiura in five previously conducted trials. Our results suggest that efficacy measured by reduction in mean FECs decreased significantly (p<0.0001) when mean baseline FECs increased, highlighting that this parameter should be considered as an important confounding factor for drug efficacy.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01087099 NCT01327469.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Albendazole / administration & dosage*
Animals
Anthelmintics / administration & dosage*
Feces / parasitology*
Humans
Parasite Egg Count*
Treatment Outcome
Trichuriasis / drug therapy*
Trichuris / drug effects*

Substances

Anthelmintics
Albendazole

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01087099
ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01327469