Single dose therapy of ascariasis--a randomized comparison of mebendazole and pyrantel.

A multicentre, randomized trial was carried out to compare the efficacy of two single-dose treatments for ascariasis: mebendazole 200 mg, and pyrantel 10 mg/kg. Each centre enrolled 200 patients with a suspected diagnosis of ascariasis, 100 for each treatment, and the treatments were randomized for each centre. To confirm the diagnosis, stools were examined for eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides by Kato's thick smear method. Efficacy was evaluated by stool examination repeated three weeks after treatment by a "blind" technician using two methods, viz. Kato's thick smear method and the zinc sulfate flotation method. Cure was defined as absence of ascaris eggs in the stools by both methods. Of the 600 enrolled patients, 32 were excluded from analysis as their initial stool examination was negative, and 568 completed the trial: 284 on each treatment. The cure rate was 80 per cent in the mebendazole group and 90 per cent in the pyrantel group (P less than 0.01). Thus pyrantel was found to be significantly more efficacious than mebendazole for single-dose treatment of ascariasis.

Estudio comparativo de flubendazol, oxantel-pirantel, albendazol y mebendazol en el tratamiento de helmintos transmitidos por el suelo / Comparative study of flubendazol, oxantel-pirantel, albendazol and mebendazol in treatment of helminths transmited by the soil

Se trataron 141 personas que tenian infeccion por Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura o Necator americanus. Las drogas empleadas fueron: Flubendazol, con tres dosificaciones: 500 mg dosis unica; 300 mg/dia por 2 dias; y 200 mg/dia por 3 dias. Oxantel-Pirantel, 400 mg de cada una en dosis unica o 600 mg de cada una, tambien en dosis unica. Mebendazol con tres dosificaciones: 500 mg dosis unica; 300 mg/dia por 2 dias; y 200 mg/dia por tres dias. Los resultados indican que todas las drogas empleadas tuvieron una efectividad para el tratamiento de la ascariasis con una curacion entre el 84.6 y el 100% y un porcentaje de reduccion del 88.5 al 100%. El flubendazol a la dosis de 300 mg/dia por 2 dias fue la droga mas efectiva para la tricocefalosis y la uncinariasis, curacion y reduccion de huevos del 100% para ambas. Todas las drogas fueron bien toleradas y casi no se observaron efectos secundarios. Si se requeire una droga para tratamientos en masa con dosis unica, se debe seleccionar el flubendazol, a la dosis de 500 mg; con ella se cubren los tres helmintos con una alta efectividad.