Comparison of the therapeutic efficacy and side effects of a single dose of levo-praziquantel with mixed isomer praziquantel in 278 cases of schistosomiasis japonica.
A randomized double-blind study comparing the therapeutic efficacy of single dose of levo-praziquantel and mixed isomer praziquantel was carried out on 139 matched pairs of patients with schistosomiasis japonica. A single dose of either levo-praziquantel (20 mg/kg) or praziquantel (40 mg/kg) was given to each patient. Four and six months after treatment, the stool ova negative conversion rates were 94.85% and 96.27% for the levo-praziquantel group, and 97.06% and 94.03% for the praziquantel group, respectively; there was no statistically significant difference between the two treatments (P greater than 0.05). For lightly and moderately infected patients, a single 20 mg/kg dose of levo-praziquantel was as efficacious as 40 mg/kg of praziquantel. Moreover, levo-praziquantel produced fewer side effects than praziquantel. These results suggest that levo-praziquantel is the component of the mixed isomer preparation that is antihelminthic. Levo-praziquantel could be used therapeutically at half the current dose of the mixed isomer drug.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Hua Shan Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, People's Republic of China.
M H
MH
Wu
C C
CC
Wei
Z Y
ZY
Xu
H C
HC
Yuan
W N
WN
Lian
Q J
QJ
Yang
M
M
Chen
Q W
QW
Jiang
C Z
CZ
Wang
S J
SJ
Zhang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012554:Schistosomiasis japonica / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
D011223:Praziquantel