Bringing Treatment from Pets to People: Emodepside Activity Against Whipworm and Hookworm Infections

The antiparasitic veterinary medicine emodepside, with a unique mode of action, showed activity against Trichuris trichiura and hookworm in infected human adults.

Options for treating soil-transmitted helminthiases are limited, and current treatments for Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) have poor efficacy. Emodepside, derived from a fungal metabolite, is available as a veterinary roundworm treatment that shows activity against soil-transmitted helminths infecting humans. To assess emodepside's efficacy and safety, investigators conducted two randomized trials in Tanzania. Adults aged 18 to 45 years with T. trichiura or hookworm infection (≥48 eggs/g of stool) were randomly assigned to 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 mg oral emodepside, 400 mg albendazole, or placebo. The primary outcome was parasitologic cure (no eggs in stool) at 14 to 21 days.

Among 266 participants in the T. trichiura trial, 5-mg emodepside…

Reviewing Author

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine

Bringing Treatment from Pets to People: Emodepside Activity Against Whipworm and Hookworm Infections

Topics

Reviewing Author