A new tablet designed to treat intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate the parasitic infection, which affects about 1.5 billion people worldwide, researchers say.
The mango-flavored pill is a combination of two existing anti-parasitic drugs that appear to be more effective in getting rid of worms when used together.
These worms are caught by contact with food or water that has been contaminated with soil contaminated with worm eggs, and infection results in severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition, and anemia.
Researchers say the pill could help overcome future drug resistance issues and better manage the disease at large.
Parasites, also known as soil-transmitted helminths (STH), include whipworms and hookworms and are common in many developing countries where hygiene levels are poor.
Many of the victims are children and there is no preventive treatment other than good sanitation.
According to a study, called “Alive”.Published in the Lancet, the new pill could help the most affected countries reach the target World Health Organization To eradicate disease.
It is to be taken as a single pill or a fixed dose of three tablets on consecutive days.
Researchers from eight European and African institutions say it would be an easy way to cure large numbers of people in mass treatment programs.
“It's easy to administer, because it's a single pill,” said project leader Professor José Munoz.
“Furthermore, we hope that combining two drugs with different activities will reduce the risk of parasites becoming drug-resistant,” Professor Muñoz said.
Once a person is infected, the parasites root themselves in the human digestive system.
Although the drug albendazole is effective in treating some types of STH, it appears to be less effective in some others.
During a clinical trial involving 1,001 children aged 5-18 in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, the drug was found to be more effective for more types of infections when combined with ivermectin.
However, the researchers said the results are inconclusive about how well treated with threadworms.
Professor Hany Elshekha, an expert in parasitology at the University of Nottingham, said the pill could be a “significant improvement over other treatments” and could be used against multiple parasites.
“There are some challenges with existing drugs … so this could be a big, big addition.”
However, he said the research was “promising” but had “some gaps”.
“We don't know if the results will be the same for adults, mature people, young children, people in other parts of the world.”
The results of the trial have been submitted to regulators in Europe and Africa, with a decision expected in early 2025.
Participants are now being recruited to take part in a further trial of 20,000 people in Kenya and Ghana.
Kenya Medical Research Institute researcher Dr Stella Kefa, who worked on the study, said the pill has “great potential to improve the health of affected communities” but “work still needs to be done” to make the treatment widely available.