Infections with soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) occur throughout the developing world and
remain a major public health problem in the poorest communities. Preventive chemotherapy (PC)
programs in which single-dose albendazole 400 mg or single-dose mebendazole 500 mg - the
drugs of choice for STH - are administered at the population level, is the main strategy for
STH control. To ensure quality, these drugs are being widely donated by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
(albendazole (ALB), Zentel) and Johnson & Johnson (mebendazole (MEB), Vermox). In addition to
this, there are a wide variety of ALB and MEB tablets available on the local market. Although
little is known about the quality of anthelmintics sold for human use, several publications
have reported variability in the quality of generic anthelmintics used in veterinary
medicine. The main objective of the present study is to compare the efficacy of two ALB
brands bought on the local market, including OVIS (Korea, DAEHWA pharmaceutical) and BENDEX
(India, Cipla)