TY - JOUR
T1 - Treatment of intestinal schistosomiasis in Ugandan preschool children: best diagnosis, treatment efficacy and side-effects, and an extended praziquantel dosing pole: best diagnosis, treatment efficacy and side-effects, and an extended praziquantel dosing pole
AU - Sousa-Figueiredo, José Carlos
AU - Pleasant, Joyce
AU - Day, Matthew
AU - Betson, Martha
AU - Rollinson, David
AU - Montresor, Antonio
AU - Kazibwe, Francis
AU - Kabatereine, Narcis B.
AU - Stothard, Russell
PY - 2010/6/1
Y1 - 2010/6/1
N2 - The Ugandan national control programme for schistosomiasis has no clear policy for inclusion of preschool-children (≤5 years old) children. To re-balance this health inequality, we sought to identify best diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis, observe treatment safety and efficacy of praziquantel (PZQ), and extend the current WHO dose pole for chemotherapy. We examined and treated 363 preschool children from shoreline villages of Lakes Albert and Victoria, and found that 62·3% (CI95 57·1-67·3) of the children were confirmed to have intestinal schistosomiasis. One day after treatment, children were reported as having headaches (3·6%), vomiting (9·4%), diarrhoea (10·9%) and urticaria/rash (8·9%) with amelioration at 21-day follow-up, where the parasitological cure rate was found to be 100·0%. Height and weight data were collected from a further 3303 preschool children to establish and validate an extended PZQ dose pole that now includes two new height-intervals: 60-84 cm for one-half tablet and 84-99 cm for three-quarter tablet divisions; which would result in 97·6% of children receiving an acceptable dose (30-60 mg/kg). To conclude, preschool children in lakeshore communities of Uganda are at significant risk of intestinal schistosomiasis; we now strongly advocate for their immediate inclusion within the national control programme to eliminate this health inequity. Crown
AB - The Ugandan national control programme for schistosomiasis has no clear policy for inclusion of preschool-children (≤5 years old) children. To re-balance this health inequality, we sought to identify best diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis, observe treatment safety and efficacy of praziquantel (PZQ), and extend the current WHO dose pole for chemotherapy. We examined and treated 363 preschool children from shoreline villages of Lakes Albert and Victoria, and found that 62·3% (CI95 57·1-67·3) of the children were confirmed to have intestinal schistosomiasis. One day after treatment, children were reported as having headaches (3·6%), vomiting (9·4%), diarrhoea (10·9%) and urticaria/rash (8·9%) with amelioration at 21-day follow-up, where the parasitological cure rate was found to be 100·0%. Height and weight data were collected from a further 3303 preschool children to establish and validate an extended PZQ dose pole that now includes two new height-intervals: 60-84 cm for one-half tablet and 84-99 cm for three-quarter tablet divisions; which would result in 97·6% of children receiving an acceptable dose (30-60 mg/kg). To conclude, preschool children in lakeshore communities of Uganda are at significant risk of intestinal schistosomiasis; we now strongly advocate for their immediate inclusion within the national control programme to eliminate this health inequity. Crown
KW - deworming
KW - guidelines
KW - national control programme
KW - preschoolaged children (PSAC)
KW - Schistosomiasis
U2 - 10.1016/j.inhe.2010.02.003
DO - 10.1016/j.inhe.2010.02.003
M3 - Article
SN - 1876-3413
VL - 2
SP - 103
EP - 113
JO - International Health
JF - International Health
IS - 2
ER -
