Schistosomiasis cure rate

Studies of schistosomiasis in Senegal also reinforced in fact what many scientists knew in principle the time between treatment and disease testing will have an effect on the apparent cure rate. Even in the initial study,... 

This is an old drug which has been used to treat human schistosomiasis with a dose of 4 mg/kg, and a maximum of 700 mg/adult given for 3 days cure rates upto 85% have been achieved. 

Niridazole at an oral dose of 25 mg/kg given for 5-7 days [71-74] or of 30 mg/kg for 4 days [75,76] produced 80-100% cure rates against S. haematobium infections in children and adults and was also well tolerated. A higher dose of 50 mg/kg of the drug given three times a day has been shown to be highly effective in treating urinary schistosomiasis in human [77]. 

THERAPEUTIC USES Praziquantel is FDA approved for therapy of schistosomiasis and liver fluke infections, but also is used to treat infections with many other trematodes and cestodes. Praziquantel is the drug of choice for schistosomiasis caused by all Schistosoma species. Although dosage regimens vary, a single oral dose of 40 mg/kg or three doses of 20 mg/kg each, given 4-6 hours apart, generally produce cure rates of 70-95% and consistent reductions (>85%) in egg counts. Tablets of 600 mg are available. 

Successful anti-schistosomal chemotherapy consists of two different endpoints. Firstly, the treatment can cure the infection - completely eradicating schistosomes from the host. Alternatively, the treatment can dramatically reduce the infection, thus decreasing egg production and associated morbidity. Even when patients are not cured by anti-schistosomal application, there is almost always a dramatic reduction in the rate of egg production and, therefore, decreased schistosomiasis-related morbidity. Since the goal of most chemotherapy campaigns is to control morbidity, either of these endpoints is a positive outcome. 

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