Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) in Ivory Coast

Summary

The recommended treatment for elimination of LF in sub-Saharan Africa is annual mass drug administration (MDA) with single dose Albendazole (ALB) plus Ivermectin (IVM) given for at least 5-7 years. However, in areas where LF is co-endemic with a related filarial parasite, Loa loa, co-infection with L. loa represents a serious barrier to LF elimination because IVM used in LF MDA can result in severe reactions and even death in individuals with high microfilaria (mf) levels of L. loa. Screening for heavy L. loa infection is problematic. To overcome this problem, monotherapy with ALB is possible, since this drug has little or no effect on circulating mf and thus would not cause adverse effects in people with heavy L. loa infections. Moreover ALB has been shown to have embryostatic or embryocidal effects in female adult worms resulting in decreased mf levels with time as natural attrition of circulating mf occurs. Thus this open-label, randomized clinical trial will examine treatment with ALB monotherapy administered twice per year over a period of 3 years with the primary endpoint being the proportion of individuals with total clearance of mf at 36 months and Alere antigen test negativity (a more sensitive circulating antigen test of filarial infection). Two of the treatment arms will include ALB at two different doses, 400mg or 800mg (fixed dose twice yearly) as compared to standard treatment of ALB (400 mg) plus IVM (150-200 µg/kg) administered annually. Observations from an ongoing clinical trial in Papua New Guinea suggest that a single dose of triple therapy with ALB + IVM + DEC may be highly effective in sterilizing adult female worms. Therefore to confirm and expand these important preliminary observations in a different population, a fourth arm will be included in the current clinical trial in which subjects will receive all three drugs. The clinical trial will be performed in a region of Cote d'Ivoire where onchocerciasis and loiasis are not endemic.

Timeline

Start

2015-01

Primary completion

2018-09

Completion

2018-09-25

Publications

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• Background Weil GJ, Curtis KC, Fakoli L, Fischer K, Gankpala L, Lammie PJ, Majewski AC, Pelletreau S, Won KY, Bolay FK, Fischer PU. Laboratory and field evaluation of a new rapid test for detecting Wuchereria bancrofti antigen in human blood. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Jul;89(1):11-15. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0089. Epub 2013 May 20.
• Background Zoure HG, Wanji S, Noma M, Amazigo UV, Diggle PJ, Tekle AH, Remme JH. The geographic distribution of Loa loa in Africa: results of large-scale implementation of the Rapid Assessment Procedure for Loiasis (RAPLOA). PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Jun;5(6):e1210. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001210. Epub 2011 Jun 28.
• Ouattara AF, Bjerum CM, Aboulaye M, Kouadio O, Marius VK, Andersen B, Lew D, Goss CW, Weil GJ, Koudou BG, King CL. Semiannual Treatment of Albendazole Alone is Efficacious for Treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis: A Randomized Open-label Trial in Cote d'Ivoire. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Jul 6;74(12):2200-2208. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab194.
• Bjerum CM, Ouattara AF, Aboulaye M, Kouadio O, Marius VK, Andersen BJ, Weil GJ, Koudou BG, King CL. Efficacy and Safety of a Single Dose of Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine, and Albendazole for Treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis in Cote d'Ivoire: An Open-label Randomized Controlled Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Oct 23;71(7):e68-e75. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz1050.

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Indications