MASS DIETHYLCARBAMAZINE CHEMOTHERAPY FOR CONTROL OF BANCROFTIAN FILARIASIS THROUGH COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION - COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF A LOW MONTHLY DOSE AND MEDICATED SALT
Dw. Meyrowitsch et al., MASS DIETHYLCARBAMAZINE CHEMOTHERAPY FOR CONTROL OF BANCROFTIAN FILARIASIS THROUGH COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION - COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF A LOW MONTHLY DOSE AND MEDICATED SALT, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 90(1), 1996, pp. 74-79
Citations number
23
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Tropical Medicine
The efficacy of 2 strategies for the control of bancroftian filariasis
using diethylcarbamazine (DEC) mass chemotherapy delivered through co
mmunity participation was evaluated and compared in 2 endemic communit
ies in Tanzania with pre-treatment microfilarial (mf) prevalences of 3
4.7% and 31.0%, and mf geometric mean intensities (GMI) of 1122 mf/mL
and 933 mf/mL, respectively. In the first community, all individuals a
ged greater than or equal to 1 year were offered treatment for one yea
r with a low monthly dose (50 mg DEC to children aged <15 years and 10
0 mg DEC to adults aged greater than or equal to 15 years; given indep
endently of body weight), and in the second community all households w
ere offered 0.33% w/w DEC-medicated cooking salt for one year. Both tr
eatment strategies resulted in dramatic reductions in the mfloads. Amo
ng those microfilaraemic before treatment, the low monthly dose and th
e DEC-medicated salt gave mf clearance rates of 55.3% and 92.1%, respe
ctively, and the pre-treatment mf GMIs were reduced by 99.4% and 99.9%
, respectively, one year after starting treatment. At community level,
the mf prevalences were reduced to 15.8% and 2.4% (reductions of 54.5
% and 92.3%) and the mf CMIs were reduced to 100 mf/mL and 32 mf/mL (r
eductions of 91.1% and 96.6%), one year after starting treatment with
the low monthly dose and DEC-medicated salt respectively. Males with h
ydrocele before treatment improved remarkably one year after the start
of treatment. Since both strategies were simple to administer and wel
l accepted by the communities, they appear highly feasible for integra
tion into large scale control programmes based on community participat
ion.