Therapeutic effect of triclabendazole in patients with fascioliasis in Egypt. A preliminary study.

Human fascioliasis is becoming an increasingly important clinical and epidemiological problem in Egypt. However, the treatment of the disease presents certain difficulties as the usual known drugs such as emetine hydrochloride and praziquantel do not cure fascioliasis using a single dose. Recently, ten cases were presented with a variability of clinical manifestations suggesting fascioliasis. The indirect haemagglutination test (IHA) was positive with high eosinophilia. SGOT and SGPT were normal & no signs of heart or kidney diseases. After taking the consent of the patients, triclabendazole, a novel benzimidazole compound was given orally in a single dose of 10mg/kg body weight. The results hereby revealed that the general condition and all signs of the patients were ameliorated with a drop in the eosinophilic count, which returned to normal after 2-3 months. Being safe, reliable and easy to administer, triclabendazole is ought to be considered for the treatment of human fascioliasis.