The effect of eight half-yearly single-dose treatments with DEC on Wuchereria bancrofti circulating antigenaemia
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Date
2005Author
Simonsena, Paul E.
Magesa, Stephen M.
Meyrowitsch, Dan W.
Malecela-Lazarod, Mwele N.
Rwegoshora, Rwehumbiza T.
Jaoko Walter G.
Michael, Edwin
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The effect of eight half-yearly treatment rounds with diethylcarbamazine
(DEC; 6 mg/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 (32 000 antigen units), and who
continued to have intensities above this level after treatment, a decrease in posttreatment
CFA intensities was obvious from a continuous decrease in ELISA optical
URI
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15869771http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/10162
Citation
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and HygieneSubject
Lymphatic filariasis;Wuchereria bancrofti;
Circulating antigens
Diethylcarbamazine;
Tanzania
Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10387]