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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Closing the praziquantel treatment gap: New steps in epidemiological monitoring and control of schistosomiasis in African infants and preschool-aged children
Parasitology, Volume 138, No. 12, Year 2011
Notification
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Description
Where very young children come into contact with water containing schistosome cercariae, infections occur and schistosomiasis can be found. In high transmission environments, where mothers daily bathe their children with environmentally drawn water, many infants and preschool-aged children have schistosomiasis. This "new" burden, inclusive of co-infections with Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni, is being formally explored as infected children are not presently targeted to receive praziquantel (PZQ) within current preventive chemotherapy campaigns. Thus an important PZQ treatment gap exists whereby infected children might wait up to 4-5 years before receiving first treatment in school. International treatment guidelines, set within national treatment platforms, are presently being modified to provide earlier access to medication(s). Although detailed pharmacokinetic studies are needed, to facilitate pragmatic dosing in the field, an extended "dose pole" has been devised and epidemiological monitoring has shown that administration of PZQ (40 mg/kg), in either crushed tablet or liquid suspension, is both safe and effective in this younger age-class; drug efficacy, however, against S. mansoni appears to diminish after repeated rounds of treatment. Thus use of PZQ should be combined with appropriate health education/water hygiene improvements for both child and mother to bring forth a more enduring solution. Copyright © 2011 Cambridge University Press.
Authors & Co-Authors
Russell Stothard, John Russell
Unknown Affiliation
Sousa-Figueiredo, José Carlos
Unknown Affiliation
Betson, Martha E.
Unknown Affiliation
Green, Helen K.
Unknown Affiliation
Seto, Edmund Yet Wah
Unknown Affiliation
Garba, A. Djirmay
Unknown Affiliation
Sacko, Moussa
Unknown Affiliation
Mutapi, Francisca
Unknown Affiliation
Vaz Nery, Susana
Unknown Affiliation
Amin, Mutamad Ahmad
Unknown Affiliation
Mutumba-Nakalembe, M. J.
Unknown Affiliation
Navaratnam, A. M.D.
Unknown Affiliation
Fenwick, Alan
Unknown Affiliation
Kabatereine, Narcis B.
Unknown Affiliation
Gabrielli, Albis Francesco
Unknown Affiliation
Montresor, Antonio
Unknown Affiliation
Statistics
Citations: 103
Authors: 16
Affiliations: 12
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1017/S0031182011001235
e-ISSN:
14698161
Research Areas
Cancer
Environmental
Health System And Policy
Infectious Diseases
Maternal And Child Health