adminThe Rhodesia Herald,
4 February 1970
THE one shot anti-bilharzia drug, hycanthone, which recently became available in South Africa for the first time, seems to be the answer for mass treatment, says a doctor who has carried out clinical trials.
He is attached to the Philadelphia Mission Hospital, Dennilton, in the Groblersdal district, where he treats a large number of African schoolchildren suffering from the disease.
He tested hycanthone, administered both orally and by injection. In the first trial he gave hycanthone tablets to 56 children he admitted to hospital. Three months later, only one patient had live ova in his urine.
The doctor also tested the cure rate of a single hycanthone injection on 150 children.
Three months later a cure rate of between 93 and 100 percent was recorded, depending on the size of the dose.
No serious side effects of the drug could be detected — the most common being nausea, vomiting and abdominal pains.
The Secretary for Health, Dr Mark Webster, said Rhodesia was the first country to order hyacinthine in any quantity.
The fact that the Ministry had used and was still using the drug showed that it was considered satisfactory, he said.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
The World Health Organisation says bilharzia, also known as schistosomiasis is a disease of poverty caused by a parasitic worm that lives in fresh water.
Bilharzia is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Middle East nations and Asia and the major victims are school-going children.
The worms are found in unchlorinated and poorly sanitised fresh water such as ponds, lakes, rivers, reservoirs and canals.
According to a WHO report, although Zimbabwe has not completely eliminated bilharzia and intestinal worms, the country has however made major strides in reducing the burden through the National Treatment Campaigns done every year.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Child Care and WHO, successfully administered free treatment for bilharzia in Mashonaland Central Province in September 2020, using de-worming medicines.
To date, the country has received record rains, raising prospects of high bilharzia cases.
Online Reporter
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