Table 2. Fecal egg count reduction of mebendazole for STHs assessed by pooled and individual samples.

Pool size	Sample size at baseline/follow-up	A. lumbricoides			T. trichiura			Hookworm
		Mean FEC at baseline (EPG)	FECR (%)	p value	Mean FEC at baseline (EPG)	FECR (%)	p value	Mean FEC at baseline (EPG)	FECR %	p value
1	600/468	3,091	97.2	_	320	60.9		43	44.2	_
10	60/48*	3,354	96.8	0.74	338	53.2	0.39	60	68.8	0.03
20	30/24**	4,965	96.8	0.80	607	77.7	0.62	67	65.6	0.26
60	10/8***	4,020	96.1	0.24	305	57.7	0.44	50	87.5	0.02

At follow-up, pooling of exactly up to 10, 20, or 60 samples was not always possible:

^*pool₁₀ includes: pools of 9 (n = 12) and pools of 10 (n = 36) samples;

^**pool₂₀ includes: pools of 18 (n = 5), pools of 19 (n = 2) and pools of 20 (n = 17) samples; and*** pool₆₀ includes: pools of 55 (n = 1), 56 (n = 1), 58 (n = 1) and 59 (n = 1) and pools of 60 (n = 4) samples.

EPG, eggs per gram of stool; FEC, fecal egg count; FECR, fecal egg count reduction.