Comment on “The optimal timing of post-treatment sampling for the assessment of anthelminthic drug efficacy against Ascaris infections in humans”

Publication date: August 2018Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance, Volume 8, Issue 2Author(s): Jürgen Krücken, Kira Fraundorfer, Jean Claude Mugisha, Sabrina Ramünke, Kevin C. Sifft, Dominik Geus, Felix Habarugira, Jules Ndoli, Augustin Sendegeya, Caritas Mukampunga, Toni Aebischer, Janina McKay-Demeler, Jean Bosco Gahutu, Frank P. Mockenhaupt, Georg von Samson-HimmelstjernaAbstractA recent publication by Levecke et al. (Int. J. Parasitol, 2018, 8, 67–69) provides important insights into the kinetics of worm expulsion from humans following treatment with albendazole. This is an important aspect of determining the optimal time-point for post treatment sampling to examine anthelmintic drug efficacy. The authors conclude that for the determination of drug efficacy against Ascaris, samples should be taken not before day 14 and recommend a period between days 14 and 21. Using this recommendation, they conclude that previous data (Krücken et al., 2017; Int. J. Parasitol, 7, 262–271) showing a reduction of egg shedding by 75.4% in schoolchildren in Rwanda and our conclusions from these data should be interpreted with caution. In reply to this, we would like to indicate that the very low efficacy of 0% in one school and 52–56% in three other schools, while the drug was fully efficient in other schools, cannot simply be explained by the time point of sampling. Moreover, there was no correlation between the sampling day and albendazole eff...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research