Flubendazole: a candidate macrofilaricide for lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis field programs.

摘要

A safe, field-usable chemotherapeutic agent that will rapidly kill adult filarial worms is urgently needed in tropical medicine. Ivermectin, distributed as Mectizan? by Merck &: Co. Inc., has had an enormous impact on two major human filarial infections of developing countries, onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis [l]. However, this agent works primarily against the microfilarial stage and lacks the ability to rapidly kill the adult parasites. Since the adult worms can survive for many years producing offspring, it has been necessary for control programs to continue drug distribution for more than a decade, for instance, until the adult worms eventually die; a labor-intensive and expensive proposition. Other agents used in filarial control programs, such as diethylcarbamazine and albendazole, may be more effective macrofilaricides than ivermectin, but for various reasons are not suitable, or are unable, to fill the role of a being rapidly acting mac-rofilaricide.