The effect of eight half-yearly single-dose treatments with DEC on Wuchereria bancrofti circulating antigenaemia.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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 became undetectable after four treatments. Circulating antigenaemia also decreased progressively, but at a much slower rate. After two, four and eight treatment rounds, the mean CFA intensity was reduced by 81, 94 and 98%, and the prevalence of CFA positivity was 85, 66 and 57%, compared with pre-treatment, respectively. CFA clearance rates were negatively related to pre-treatment CFA intensities, and were higher among pre-treatment mf-negative individuals than among pre-treatment mf-positive individuals. Even among patients who had pre-treatment CFA intensities above the upper measuring level (32000antigen units), and who continued to have intensities above this level after treatment, a decrease in post-treatment CFA intensities was obvious from a continuous decrease in ELISA optical density values. Repeated DEC therapy thus appears to have a slow but profound and persistent macrofilaricidal effect, which in the long run may be beneficial to populations undergoing DEC-based control interventions by reducing the probability of future morbidity development.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 7 |
Pages (from-to) | 541-7 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISSN | 0035-9203 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2005 |
Bibliographical note
Keywords: Administration, Oral; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Antigens, Helminth; Child; Child, Preschool; Diethylcarbamazine; Drug Administration Schedule; Endemic Diseases; Female; Filariasis; Filaricides; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Rural Health; Tanzania; Treatment Outcome; Wuchereria bancrofti
ID: 5774753