Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Mar 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialAlbendazole therapy and reduced decline in haemoglobin concentration during pregnancy (Sierra Leone).
WHO recommends that anthelmintic treatment be included in strategies to improve maternal nutrition in areas where hookworms are endemic and anaemia is prevalent. At present, few countries have adopted this recommendation, partly owing to the lack of data to support the adverse effects of hookworms on maternal health. A longitudinal study was conducted on 125 women in Sierra Leone (in 1995/96) to measure the impact of single-dose albendazole (400 mg) and daily iron-folate supplements (36 mg iron and 5 mg folate) on haemoglobin and serum ferritin concentration during pregnancy. ⋯ The corresponding value for iron-folate supplements was 13.7 g/L haemoglobin (P < 0.001). The effects of albendazole and iron-folate supplements were additive. These findings lend support to WHO's recommendation for anthelmintic treatment during pregnancy.
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Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Mar 2001
Leishmania species, drug unresponsiveness and visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India.
Sixteen isolates obtained, in January 1998-December 1999, from splenic aspirates from sodium stibogluconate-resistant cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL; Indian kala-azar) and drawn from different districts of Bihar (India) were identified as Leishmania donovani. By isoenzyme analysis, all the strains were found identical to the WHO reference strain L. donovani MON-2 and differed from L. tropica MON-5. ⋯ No new strain responsible for drug unresponsiveness emerged during this period and other cause or causes of emergence of drug resistance should be sought. All the patients were cured with amphotericin B.