Could a mango flavoured pill end intestinal worms?

Once a person is infected, the parasites root themselves in people’s digestive tracts.

While the drug albendazole is good at treating some species of STH, it appears to be becoming less effective in tackling some others.

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.

Prof. Hany Elsheikha, an expert in parasitology at the University of Nottingham said the pill could be a “significant improvement over other treatments” and could be used against multiple parasites.

“There are some challenges with existing medications…so this could be a major, major addition.”

However, he said that while the study was “promising”, it had “some gaps”.

“We don’t know if the results would be the same for adults, mature people, younger kids, people in other parts of the world.”

The results of the trial have been submitted to regulators in Europe and Africa, with decisions expected in early 2025.

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.