Mebendazole dosage

These pharmacokinetic interactions are established, and are likely to be clinically important when these anthelmintics are used to treat systemic worm infections. For these infections it may be necessary to increase the albendazole or mebendazole dosage in patients taking phenytoin, carbamazepine or phenobarbital. Monitor the outcome of concurrent use. The interactions are of no importance when these anthelmintics are used for intestinal worm infections (where their action is a local effect on the worms in the gut), which is the most common use of mebendazole in particular. 

Depending on the species, parbendazole, mebendazole, albendazole, oxfendazole, cambendazole, and febantel can be teratogenic in the parent form or indirectly from metabolite formation. Oxibendazole and fenbendazole in parent form are not teratogenic, although one of the metabolites of fenbendazole, a sulfoxide found in the milk of cows treated with fenbendazole, is teratogenic in the rat and sheep. Albendazole displays similar biotransformation pathways in cattle as it does in sheep, yet the bovine animal is refractory to its teratogenic effect at normal dosage rates. 

In the USA, mebendazole has been approved for use in ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm and pinworm infection. It can be taken before or after meals the tablets should be chewed before swallowing. For pinworm infection, the dose is 100 mg once, repeated at 2 weeks. For ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm, and trichostrongylus infections, a dosage of 100 mg twice daily for 3 days is used for adults and for children over 2 years of age. Cure rates are 90-100% for pinworm infections, ascariasis, and trichuriasis. Cure rates are lower for hookworm infections, but a marked reduction in the worm burden occurs in those not cured. For intestinal capillariasis, mebendazole is used at a dosage of 400 mg/d in divided doses for 21 or more days. In trichinosis, limited reports suggest efficacy against adult worms in the intestinal tract and tissue larvae. Treatment is three times daily, with fatty foods, at 200-400 mg per dose for 3 days and then 400-500 mg per dose for 10 days. Corticosteroids should be coadministered for severe infections. 

The trichinae also reach the liver, where they invade the sinusoids and may cause an inflammatory mesenchymal reaction. There is likewise an abundance of liver granulomas. (69, 70) Treatment for trichinosis during the motile phase consists of mebendazole and possibly thiabendazole (in gradually increasing dosage, with additional administration of glucocorticoids, if necessary). 

Al-Kurdi, Z., Al-Jallad, T., Badwan, A. and Jaber, A. M. Y. High performance liquid chromatography method for determination of methyl 5-benzoyl-2-benzimidazolecarbamate (mebendazole) and its main degradation product in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Talanta 50 1089-1097, 1999. 

---