Table 4.
Helminth infections before and after treatment in preschool children. Values are numbers (percentages) unless otherwise specified
| Infection | Iron
|
Mebendazole
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placebo | Treatment | Placebo | Treatment | ||
| Children* | |||||
| Baseline | 170 | 181 | 180 | 177 | |
| 12 months | 159 | 168 | 166 | 161 | |
| Tested positive for hookworms | |||||
| Baseline | 74 (44) | 88 (49) | 86 (48) | 76 (44) | |
| 12 months | 103 (65) | 103 (61) | 109 (66) | 97 (60) | |
| Hookworms (eggs/g faeces)† | |||||
| Baseline | 11.4 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.8 | |
| 12 months | 181.6 | 125.1 | 187.9 | 118.9 | |
| Tested positive for Trichuris trichiura | |||||
| Baseline | 115 (68) | 125 (69) | 125 (69) | 115 (67.3) | |
| 12 months | 109 (69) | 108 (64) | 124 (75) | 93 (57.8)‡ | |
| T trichiura (eggs/g faeces)† | |||||
| Baseline | 53.2 | 60.9 | 52.4 | 61.8 | |
| 12 months | 260.9 | 179.3 | 511.3 | 88.1‡ | |
| Tested positive for Ascaris lumbricoides | |||||
| Baseline | 73 (43) | 74 (41) | 79 (44) | 68 (39.8) | |
| 12 months | 62 (39) | 62 (37) | 82 (49.4) | 42 (27.1)‡ | |
| A lumbricoides (eggs/g faeces)† | |||||
| Baseline | 29.3 | 23.5 | 29.5 | 23.1 | |
| 12 months | 47.6 | 31.8 | 126.3 | 11.8† | |
*
Differences between numbers at baseline and 12 months due to missing faecal samples.
†
Geometric mean of all children; values of 0 set to 1 before taking logarithm.
‡
Mebendazole treatment effect, P<0.001.