The DOLF project is pleased to share several recent publications from clinical trials and community studies of alternative treatments for lymphatic filariasis. All of these have been published with open access.
The first two articles (by Campillo et al and Ouattara et al) provide further strong evidence in support of the WHO recommendation to use MDA with semiannual Albendazole for LF elimination as an alternative to Ivermectin plus Albendazole in areas with significant coendemic loiasis.
The article by Subramanian et al reports extensive, positive data on the safety and efficacy of IDA for LF elimination from a large community MDA study that was performed in South India.
The article by Krentel et al. reports results from a large multi-center study (conducted in five countries) that found that MDA with IDA and DEC/Albendazole were both well-accepted and equally acceptable to populations. Preliminary results from this study were important considerations when the WHO LF Guidelines Development Committee considered whether to endorse the use of IDA for LF elimination in certain endemic settings.
- Campillo JG, Awaca-Uvon NP, Missamou F, Tambwe JP, Kuyangisa-Simuna G, Weil GJ, Louya F, Boussinesq M, Pion SDS, Chesnais CB. Results from two cohort studies in Central Africa show that clearance of Wuchereria bancrofti infection after repeated rounds of mass drug administration with albendazole alone is closely linked to individual adherence. Clin Inf Dis, in press. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32856050/
- Ouattara A, Bjerum CM, Meite A, Kouadio O, Marius VK, Andersen B, Lew D, Goss CW, Weil GJ, Koudou BG, King CL. Semiannual treatment with albendazole alone is efficacious for treatment of lymphatic filariasis: A randomized open-label trial in Côte d’Ivore. Clin infect Dis 2021: in press. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31641754/
- Jambulingam P, Kuttiatt VS, Krishnamoorthy K, Subramanian S, Srividya A, Raju HKK, Somani RK, Suryaprakash MK, Dwivedi GP, Weil GJ. An open label, block randomized, community study of the safety and efficacy of co-administered ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine plus albendazole vs. diethylcarbamazine plus albendazole for lymphatic filariasis in India. Plos Negl Trop Dis 2021;15:e0009069. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33591979/
- Krentel A, Basker N, Beau De Rochars M, Dilliott D, Direny AN, Dubray C, Fischer PU, Ga AL, Goss CW, Hardy M, Howard C, Jambulingam P, King CL, Laman M, Lemoine JF, Mally S, Robinson LJ, Samuela J, Schechtman KB, Steer AC, Supali T, Tavul L, Weil GJ. A multicenter, community-based, mixed methods assessment of the acceptability of a triple drug regimen for elimination of lymphatic filariasis. Plos Negl Trop Dis 2021;15:e000902. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33657090/