BMJ  2006;333:105 (15 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7559.105

Editorial

Mass deworming in Ugandan children

Is effective but associated malnutrition needs treatment

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

About two billion people are affected by either schistosomiasis or helminth infections transmitted through soil (such as roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms). And about 300 million people have severe and permanent ill health as a result, especially poor and marginalised groups. Children aged 2 to 5 years are most at risk of severe morbidity. Treatment is cheap and safe and need be given only two or three times a year. The benefits of such treatment, even for preschool children, are becoming clearer. A randomised controlled trial by Alderman and colleagues reported in this week's BMJ finds that adding deworming drugs to a government led child health programme in Uganda increased weight gain by 10% in children receiving treatment twice a year.¹ The benefits in other settings may be even greater since the study was conducted in areas that had relatively low prevalence of infection and in which many control children . . . [Full text of this article]

Medical Research Council, Van Zyl Drive, Tygerberg, Parow, 7505, South Africa
(mickey.chopra@mrc.ac.za)

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