title: The short-term impact of albendazole treatment on Oesophagostomum bifurcum and hookworm infections in northern Ghana.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ziem
authors.forename: I M J
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Kettenis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bayita
authors.forename: E A T
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Brienen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dittoh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magnussen
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Polderman
mesh_terms: D015766:Albendazole / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006725:Hookworm Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009814:Oesophagostomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D009815:Oesophagostomum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D015766:Albendazole