Short report: Concomitant parasitism: Bancroftian filariasis and intestinal helminths and response to albendazole

Abstract

Subjects in an disease-endemic area in Orissa, India concomitantly infected with filariasis and inteslinal helminths had significantly lower intensity of filarial infection in comparison with those who were infected only with filariasis. Administration of albendazole resulted in a significant decrease in the prevalence of filarial antigenemia in subjects concomitantly infected with intestinal helminths, but produced little change in this infection measure in subjects infected only with Wuchereria hancrofti. These results indicate that intestinal helminths could play a role in the antifilarial activity of albendazole, most probably by depressing filarial infection intensity in co-infected individuals. Confirmation of these findings in a larger cohort may yield important new insights regarding the role of using albendazole in the ongoing intervention programs for the control of lymphatic filariasis. Copyright © 2005 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.