Efficacy Albendazole and Levamisole Against STH on Unguja (ALBvLEV)

April 15, 2008 updated by: Natural History Museum, United Kingdom

Longitudinal Study of Efficacy of Standard Albendazole Treatment Versus Levamisole/Pyrantel Pamoate on Soil Transmitted Helminth Infections

Field epidemiological studies undertaken during 2005 in four village locations in Northern Unguja, Zanzibar examined mothers and their pre-school aged children for helminth infections.

The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was found to have remained relatively high despite community-wide treatment with the mass administration of Albendazole (a WHO recommended de-wormer) in coordination with community vitamin A supplementation.

One hypothesis for this is that the children and mothers had Ascaris infections more tolerant to Albendazole that subsequently failed to clear. It is necessary to compare the present drug efficiency of Albendazole (first-line de-wormer) with Levamisole (second-line de-wormer) on STH infections such patients a case-control setting to shed light on the putative resistance of local Ascaris/Trichuris to albendazole.

In so doing, this should clarify whether there is resistance developing towards Albendazole and have possible implications for introducing combination therapies of Levamisole and Albendazole for first line de-worming mothers and their children in the future.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study was conducted in 10 villages on Unguja Island representative of urban, semi-urban and rural environments. After liaison with the local Shehia (the elected community leader) mothers and their children aged between 6 months and 5 years old were invited to attend a walk-in mobile clinic. In accordance with WHO sample size recommendations of 30 individuals per site and to cater for drop-out/non-compliance, target enrolment was about 50 mother and child pairs at each study village.

Stool specimens were transported to the Helmtin Control Laboratory Unguja laboratory for visual inspection of stool consistency and presence of blood, after which a single Kato-Katz thick smear (41.7mg) was prepared. Eggs of all STH species were counted by inspection at 100x microscopy and expressed as a tally of eggs per gram (EPG). To ensure consistency of egg counts, slides were read by the same two technicians for each study village.

10 Mother and child pairs found positive for Ascaris and/or Trichuris were randomised, by coin tossing, to receive either a single tablet of ALB (400mg) or an appropriate dose of LEV (2.5 mg/kg). A parasitological follow-up took place 18 days after treatment where a requested stool sample was analyzed by a single Kato-Katz thick smear for assessment of STH clearance. In accordance with WHO's 'no survey without service' all attendees were given an additional ALB tablet.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Tanzania
      • Stone Town, Tanzania
        • Helminth Control Laboratory Unguja

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

4 months to 43 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Presently with soil-transmitted helminthiasis

Exclusion Criteria:

  • absence of soil-transmitted helminthiasis

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: 1
1 Individuals treated with Albendazole
Drug: Albendazole
Single oral dose of 400mg
Active Comparator: 2
Individuals treated with Levamisole
Drug: Levamisole
Single oral dose of 2.5mg/kg

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Clearance of STH faecal eggs in patient stool
Time Frame: 18 days
18 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Natural History Museum, United Kingdom

Collaborators

University of London
Ministry of Health, Tanzania

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 15, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

April 17, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 17, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 15, 2008

Last Verified

April 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NHMDEWORMING

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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