A comparative study of different albendazole and mebendazole regimens for the treatment of intestinal infections in school children of Usigu division, Western Kenya

A clinical trial to compare the effectiveness of 4- and 6-mo repeated treat ment with albendazole 600 mg (Zentel (R), SmithKline Beecham) or mebendazol e 600 mg (Vermox (R), Janssen) on geohelminth infections was carried out on children in 6 primary schools, the study included 1.186 children, ages 4 t o 19 yr. Kato-Karz examination was performed on stool samples before and af ter treatment. Overall, albendazole produced better cure rates and egg redu ction rates for geohelminths. The cure rates for albendazole were 92.4% for hookworm infection, 83.5% for Ascaris lumbricoides. and 67.8% fur Trichuri s trichiura. Mebendazole given either 2 or 3 times in a year had cure rates of 50 and 55.0% (respectively) for hookworm, 79.6 and 97.5% for A. lumbric oides, and 60.6 and 68.3% for T. trichiura infection. The geometric mean in tensity of hookworm eggs per gram (epg) of stool decreased by 96.7% after a lbendazole treatment compared with 66.3 and 85.1%. respectively, for 2 or 3 doses of mebendazole (P < 0.05) over the same period. Reductions in epg fo r A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura were comparable for both drugs. Our resu lts indicate that treatment with albendazole at a 6-mo interval was more ef fective than mebendazole regimens and may be the best choice for use in the control of the 3 geohelminths.