[Praziquantel in the treatment of opisthorchiasis in Southeast Asian refugees. Evaluation of 153 cases]. / Le praziquantel dans le traitement des opisthorchiases chez des réfugiés du Sud-Est asiatique. Bilan de 153 cas.

ABSTRACT

153 patients coming to France from Southeast Asia were treated with Praziquantel for Opisthorchiasis. All these patients, 52 children and 101 adults were examined 30 to 90 day after arrival in France. They came from Laos (118 cases), Vietnam (10 cases) and Cambodia (25 cases), generally via Thailand. 7 heavy (10.000-29.999 Eggs Per Gram of faeces, EPG), 55 moderate (1.000-9.999 EPG) and 91 light infections (1-999 EPG) were detected. Praziquantel was given at a dose of 25 mg/kg body weight, orally, three times on a single day at intervals of 4-6 hours. Clinical tolerability was perfect in 59 patients and pretty good in the 94 remaining cases. We only observed, for one or two days, lassitude, headache, drowsiness, nausea, epigastric pain or arthralgia-myalgia, always of weak or moderate intensity and for 1 or 2 days. The biological tolerability was excellent without any variation of the biological norm values (47 parameters). The therapeutic efficacy was remarkable with 100% cure in all patients, who were followed-up for 40 days. All earlier controls (7th, 20th days) were always negative except for two patients who were completely negative on day 40th and later.