Albendazole – An Important Part Of Antenatal Package In Hookworm-Rife Zones – Part I

The WHO has estimated that nearly 43% of all those non-pregnant women living in third-world countries develop anemia during the course of pregnancy. Anemia has been identified as the risk aspect leading to still births and underweight new born babies.

Dearth of proper hygiene and personal cleanliness coupled with warm and sultry climatic conditions becomes the idyllic hot bed for hookworm infestation. The prevalence of hookworm invasion has been cited to lie between 36% and 74% during pregnancy. It is a dismal state of affairs that the issue of iron deficiency anemia – a largely avertable condition still hangs heavy and prevails, taking major toll on maternal lives.

Hookworms are the widely prevalent intestinal parasitic forms that lead to chronic forms of anemia due to deficit of iron caused due to severe blood loss. In developing countries like India, the rate of this form of infection is as high as ninety percent of the pregnant populace. Ancyclostoma duodenale has been indicated as the prime infecting agent in countries like India and Nepal.

The WHO has recommended antenatal de-worm procedures during pregnancy in locations where the frequency of hookworm infection surpasses the range of twenty to thirty percent.

The WHO in its millennium improvement objectives affirms that latest proofs point to the fact that pregnant women benefited immensely from following de-worming procedures. In order to attain its objective of lowering infant mortality and enhance maternal wellbeing, the WHO has cited the live example of Nepal wherein albendazole, the de-worming drug administered to pregnant women   during the course of the second trimester, decreased the rate of chronic anemia during the course of the third trimester.

The WHO approximates that nearly two billion individuals are infested with soil-communicated helminthes leading anemia and pitiable physical development. Anthelminthics could be given to pregnant women residing in hookworm infested areas that have a direct contribution in raising maternal and neonatal survival rates by lowering anemia. Despite this proposal, de-worming still does not figure in antenatal packages in majority of the third world countries.

The preliminary studies that were undertaken in Sri Lanka, wherein mebendazole was administered to women during the course of the second trimester of pregnancy and lead to major favorable alterations in the levels of hemoglobin and serum ferritin and a marked decrease in the instances of low birth weight that were less than 1500g.

Popularity: 2% [?]