PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY AND GROWTH OF KENYAN SCHOOL-CHILDREN WITH HOOKWORM,TRICHURIS-TRICHIURA AND ASCARIS-LUMBRICOIDES INFECTIONS ARE IMPROVED AFTER TREATMENT WITH ALBENDAZOLE

Growth, activity, appetite and intestinal helminth infections were com pared for 55 Kenyan primary school children with hookworm (93% prevale nce), T. trichiura (84% prevalence) and A. lumbricoides (29% prevalenc e) before and 9 wk after treatment with three 400-mg doses of albendaz ole (Zentel) or placebo. Fecal samples were examined for helminth eggs using a modified Kato technique. Activity was measured during free-pl ay with motion recorders on the dominant thigh. Children rated their a ppetites on a 5-point scale. After baseline measurements, children wer e randomly allocated to the albendazole-treated (n = 28) and placebo ( n = 27) groups, treated, and re-examined 9 wk later. At follow-up, egg counts were significantly lower than at baseline in the albendazole-t reated group (P less than or equal to 0.002), and gains in activity, r eported appetite and most indices of growth were significantly greater for the albendazole-treated group than for the placebo group. We conc lude that treatment of undernourished school children for intestinal h elminth infections with albendazole may improve growth and appetite an d increase spontaneous physical activity.