Total Dose Imferon (Iron-dextran Complex) Infusion Therapy in Severe Hookworm Anaemia

Abstract

The response of 45 patients with severe hookworm anaemia to total dose Imferon infusion was compared with that of 15 patients given oral ferrous sulphate. Recovery after Imferon was more rapid. Abnormal reactions to Imferon were infrequent and mild. Follow-up studies showed that reinfection with hookworm was extremely common. Patients treated 'with ferrous sulphate quickly relapsed into severe anaemia when infection with hookworm recurred. This was in marked contrast with the Imferon-treated group, whose haemoglobin levels still remained uniformly high. This must be attributed to the replacement of the iron reserves by total dose Imferon, and is one of the main advantages of using this technique in anaemias occurring in the tropics. © 1967, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.