The evaluation of drugs in human schistosomiasis

Abstract

The goal and criterion of treatment in schistosomiasis is the permanent arrest of egg production. Evaluation in man rests on exhaustive data on dosage and tolerance (based preferably on studies concerning the effect of the dose on the blood-level-time function), trials in groups of patients which are homogeneous as to anatomo-clinical forms of bilharzia, worm load, age of infection, age, sex, general condition of patients, interpretation of side effects, and assessment of egg production. Trials in uncomplicated early S. haematobium cases, relying on hatching tests, allow for a rapid first approximation.