A Clinical Evaluation of Mebendazole on Trichuriasis in Japan

Since an incidence of parasitic diseases is low in Japan, few kinds of anthelmintic drugs have been registered yet, therefore it has been a great trouble to get these drugs which are frequently administered in abroad. To improve the trouble, the Study Group on Pharmacotherapy for Imported Tropical Diseases has been organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Japan) in 1980. For these six years, 172 cases have been treated with mebendazole and in these clinical trials, 99 cases of trichuriasis were included (9 cases were foreigners). It was found by stool examinations that only one patient was heavily infected (more than 5, 000 EPG) and the others were in low grade infection except one case of middle grade infection. As a regimen to trichuriasis, mebendazole (Vermox®, Janssen Pharma.) was administered per os 100mg, twice a day for three days. As a result, laboratory data of stool examinations show that the EPGs in all of the examined 43 patients were decreased in number after the drug administration, however, small number of eggs was still detectable in five cases. Adverse reactions were observed in two cases, abdominal pain and skin eruption, but these symptoms were slight and transient. These adverse reactions have not been reported yet, thus little relationship may be suspected between the drug administration and the above symptoms. From these data, it can be concluded that mebendazole is an effective and safe drug for the treatment of trichuriasis.