Reducing intestinal nematode infection: Efficacy of albendazole and mebendazole

The widespread use of mebendazole and albendazole for treating intestinal nematode infections in human populations is raising concerns that careful monitoring procedures should be in place to identify any emergence of drug resistance. In this article, Andy Bennett and Helen Guyatt discuss whether benchmark parasitological drug efficacy rates can be defined for these anthelmintics, by analysing published data on cure rates and egg reduction rates in the treatment of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworm.