Ambulant treatment of urinary schistosomiasis with astiban (TWSb/6)

Abstract

In Villabruzzi (Somalia), 274 patients with S. haematobium infection were treated with total doses of 35 to 50 mg./kg. of different salts of antimony dimercaptosuccinic acid; 112 received sodium salt (Astiban), most of them intramuscularly, in 3–5 injections spread over 3–10 days. The 4-month presumptive cure rate was 70 per cent.–100 per cent. according to the different courses followed. Side-effects were rather infrequent, vomiting being the one most often observed (18 per cent. of the injections). It was more pronounced among those who received the drug on consecutive days. Injections on alternate days improve the tolerance and do not seem to decrease the effectiveness of the treatment. Astiban, although not considered as the ideal drug, appears to be a significant step forward in the ambulatory treatment of urinary schistosomiasis