A Multinational Trial of the Efficacy of Albendazole Against Soil-transmitted Nematode Infections in Children

Summary

The three major Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH), Ascaris lumbricoides, Necator americanus/Ancylostoma duodenal and Trichuris trichiura are among the most prevalent parasites worldwide. The objective of this multicentre international study is to define the efficacy of a single 400 milligram dose of albendazole (ALB) against these three STHs using a standardised protocol. The trial will be undertaken among school age children in seven countries - Brazil, Cameroon, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania (Zanzibar) and Vietnam - each with a different epidemiologic pattern of infection. A trial of this nature is urgently required because in spite of the wide usage of albendazole over the last 3 decades, there is still no key publication reporting the efficacy of the anthelmintic accurately, and to modern conventional standards, that can act as a central reference for the baseline efficacy. The latter is critically important because albendazole is now being used even more widely, as large scale mass treatment campaigns are being implemented in Africa and elsewhere, with the intention of reducing morbidity in children. Such large scale usage of a drug risks resistance developing, but resistance cannot be detected unless benchmark values for baseline efficacy are widely known.

Timeline

Start

2009-01

Primary completion

2009-12

Completion

2010-03

Publications

• Levecke B, Montresor A, Albonico M, Ame SM, Behnke JM, Bethony JM, Noumedem CD, Engels D, Guillard B, Kotze AC, Krolewiecki AJ, McCarthy JS, Mekonnen Z, Periago MV, Sopheak H, Tchuem-Tchuente LA, Duong TT, Huong NT, Zeynudin A, Vercruysse J. Assessment of anthelmintic efficacy of mebendazole in school children in six countries where soil-transmitted helminths are endemic. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Oct 9;8(10):e3204. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003204. eCollection 2014 Oct.
• Levecke B, Mekonnen Z, Albonico M, Vercruysse J. 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.
• Vercruysse J, Behnke JM, Albonico M, Ame SM, Angebault C, Bethony JM, Engels D, Guillard B, Nguyen TV, Kang G, Kattula D, Kotze AC, McCarthy JS, Mekonnen Z, Montresor A, Periago MV, Sumo L, Tchuente LA, Dang TC, Zeynudin A, Levecke B. Assessment of the anthelmintic efficacy of albendazole in school children in seven countries where soil-transmitted helminths are endemic. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Mar 29;5(3):e948. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000948.

Drugs

Indications