Trial reportPLoS neglected tropical diseases2026
Assessing the efficacy of high-dose rifampicin plus albendazole against onchocerciasis.
Trial report in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
28 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOnchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, remains a public health challenge in tropical regions. Despite significant gains through mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin, the infection remains persistent in many endemic foci. While the disease burden has reduced, elimination may require alternative strategies, including macrofilaricidal therapies. Rifampicin (RIF) has demonstrated strong anti-Wolbachia activity in vitro and in animal models, but its clinical efficacy in humans remains uncertain.
methodsWe conducted a phase II randomised, controlled trial in Ghana to evaluate the safety and efficacy of high-dose RIF (35 mg/kg/day) combined with albendazole (ALB, 400 mg/day) as an alternative treatment for onchocerciasis. The study randomised 120 infected participants into one of four arms: RIF + ALB for 14 days (TA1), RIF + ALB for 7 days (TA2), ALB alone for 14 days (TA3), and a No Treatment control group (TA4). Treatment efficacy, including Wolbachia and microfilariae (MF) depletion, adult worm vitality and embryogenesis were assessed following treatment at 4-, 18-, and 20-months.
resultsHigh-dose RIF + ALB was safe and well-tolerated, associated with only mild, transient adverse events. Treatment with RIF + ALB for 14 days reduced Wolbachia load in skin MF at 4 months (47.9%; p = 0.018). ALB monotherapy showed sustained reductions in skin microfilarial densities at the 18- and 20-month time points (p < 0.05). However, no macrofilaricidal effect or sustained Wolbachia depletion in adult worms was observed in any group.
conclusionHigh-dose RIF + ALB is safe with limited macrofilaricidal efficacy in clinical settings, contrasting with the superiority observed from preclinical trials. ALB alone shows promise as an alternative microfilaricidal treatment to ivermectin or as a complementary regimen. The lack of sustained efficacy of RIF as an anti-Wolbachia regimen may reflect suboptimal dosing, highlighting the need for further optimisation of RIF-based regimens for onchocerciasis treatment.
trial registrationPACTR202009704006025 (https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/Search.aspx). Date of trial registration: September 9, 2020.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.