Can a Mango-Flavored Pill Eliminate Intestinal Worms?

Could a Mango-Flavoured Pill End Intestinal Worms?

Could a mango-flavoured pill end intestinal worms? Parasitic infections can have gastrointestinal symptoms and often affect children. A new tablet being developed to cure intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate the parasitic infection, which affects about 1.5 billion people globally, researchers say.

Combating Intestinal Worms

The mango-flavoured pill is a combination of two existing anti-parasitic drugs that, used together, appear more effective in getting rid of worms. These worms are caught through contact with food or water that has been infected by soil contaminated with worm eggs and infections cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition, and anaemia.

Managing Parasitic Infections

Researchers say the pill could help overcome any future drug resistance problems and better manage the disease on a large scale. The parasites, also known as soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), include whipworm and hookworm and are endemic in many developing countries where hygiene levels are poor. Many of those affected are children and there is no preventative treatment other than better sanitation.

Promising Results and Future Trials

According to a study called "ALIVE" published in the Lancet, this new pill could help countries most affected reach goals set by the World Health Organization to eliminate the diseases. It would be taken as a fixed-dose of either one single pill or three tablets over consecutive days.

Research Findings

During a clinical trial involving 1,001 children aged between 5-18 in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique, it was found to be more effective on more types of infection when combined with the drug ivermectin. However, researchers said the results were not conclusive on how well it treated threadworm.

Future Implications

Participants are now being recruited to take part in a further trial on 20,000 people in Kenya and Ghana. Dr. Stella Kepha, a researcher at Kenya Medical Research Institute who worked on the study said the pill had great potential for improving the health of affected communities but that there was still work to do to widely roll out the treatment.