Chemotherapy with spaced doses of diethylcarbamazine preceded by levamisole on Bancroftian filariasis.

The administration of levamisole (2.5 mg/kg) in a single oral dose, the day before beginning weekly spaced dose of diethylcarbamazine (DEC), resulted in low blood levels of microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti six weeks after commencing treatment. This rapid decrease in microfilaraemia associated with the addition of levamisole overcomes a major disadvantage of using DEC alone-namely the necessity to commence spaced dose treatment several months before the transmission season. A further advantage of combined levamisole-DEC therapy is that levamisole is effective in ascariasis and hookworm-conditions which often co-exist in areas endemic for Bancroftian filariasis.