Seven rounds of Mass drug administration with Diethylcarbamazine and Albendazole to interrupt Wuchereria bancrofti infection and its implication on elimination parameters in Puducherry, South India

Mass drug administration (MDA) with annual single dose of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) in combination with albendazole (ALB) for more than 5 years is the principal tool of lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination strategy. This study examined the potential of seven rounds of MDA of which initial four rounds with DEC alone and concluding three rounds with DEC plus Albendazole to eliminate Lymphatic filariasis transmitted by Wuchereria bancrofti infection in humans in geographically isolated and non contiguous districts in the Union Territory of Puducherry, South India. Which are bordering endemic districts of neibouring states and administratively same implementation unit..Among the eligible population (>2 years), 49.60to 88.60% received treatment in all seven rounds, After seven rounds of treatment, the microfilaria (Mf) prevalence in treated communities dropped by >90% in two of three sentinel sites in the DEC rounds and all three in the DEC&ALB rounds showed zero Mf prevalence, The results also indicate that DEC&ALB is effective, slightly better than DEC against microfilaraemia. Results from this and other recent operational studies proved that single-dose mass drug administration with DEC and ALBENDAZOLE is very effective at community level to interrupt transmission and proceed further towards verification of antigenemia prevalence as per GELF protocol.