The effect of eight half-yearly treatment rounds with diethylcarbamazine (DEC; 6mg/kg bodyweight) on Wuchereria bancrofti-specific circulating filarial antigen (CFA), a marker of adult worm infection, was followed in 79 individuals who were CFA-positive before start of treatment. Half of these were also microfilariae (mf)-positive. Microfilaraemia decreased rapidly after onset of treatment and ...

We report the successful implementation of a community-based lymphatic filariasis control program using annual single-dose treatment with diethylcarbamazine (DEC) in combination with albendazole. The target population included over 28,000 people in the Samarai Murua District, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. A community-based delivery model was as effective as the standard health services ...

Plasma sodium and osmolality were determined in 80 adult epileptic patients receiving chronic treatment with carbamazepine and in 50 control patients treated with other anticonvulsant drugs. Mean plasma osmolality was significantly lower in the carbamazepine-treated patients but mean plasma sodium did not differ in the two groups. Hyponatraemia was found in five of the carbamazine-treated patie...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of multiple rounds of annual single dose of DEC (6 mg/kg) or albendazole (400mg) given alone or in combination on Wuchereria bancrofti microfilaraemia, anti-filarial IgG1 and IgG4 and antigenaemia. METHODS A total of 170 participants were randomly assigned to albendazole (n = 62), DEC (n = 54), and DEC plus albendazole (DEC/ALB) combination (n = 54). Blood sa...

BACKGROUND Conventional diagnostic methods for human ascariasis are based on the detection of Ascaris lumbricoides eggs in stool samples. However, studies of ascariasis in pigs have shown that the prevalence and the number of eggs detected in the stool do not correlate well with exposure of the herd to the parasite. On the other hand, an ELISA test measuring antibodies to Ascaris suum haemoglob...

A novel, sensitive and specific touchdown-touchup nested PCR (TNPCR) technique based on two useful molecular markers, a Wuchereria bancrofti β-tubulin gene involved in benzimidazole susceptibility and a Wolbachia ftsZ gene involved in cell division, was developed to simultaneously detect the parasite W. bancrofti (W1) with its Wolbachia endosymbiont (W2) from both microfilaremic and post-treatm...

Many trials have explored the efficacy of individual drugs and drug combinations to treat bancroftian filariasis. This narrative review summarizes the current evidence for drug management of bancroftian filariasis. Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) remains the prime antifilarial agent with a well-established microfilaricidal and some macrofilaricidal effects. Ivermectin (IVM) is highly microfilaricidal ...