Ministry defends safety of filaria tablets

Nov 02, 2017 News

A diagram showing the adverse effects and precautions of the filaria tablets

“These are not experimental tablets…they have been tried and proven for years and even our track record speaks to that.”
This was the response by Deputy Chief Medical Officer [DCMO], Dr. Karen Boyle, in wake of concerns that have surfaced in relation to the tablets being administered by the Ministry of Public Health as part of its Lymphatic Filariasis [filaria] elimination campaign.
The tablets which are being used for the campaign are: 100mg Diethylcarbamazine [DEC] and 400mg Albendazole.
Currently, the doses being administered are one DEC and one Albendazole to children age two to five; to those six to 14 two DEC and one albendazole is the dose administered, while those 15 and older are given three DEC and one albendazole tablets.
But just recently a girl who fell in the six-14 age group passed away days after being administered the prescribed dose.
The father of the young girl is convinced that her demise was linked to the tablets but, according to Dr. Boyle, “It has not been established that the two are linked.
Two days after, makes it very unlikely; something else may have been ingested, we don’t know…it could have been something totally unrelated.”
According to the DCMO, a thorough investigation will have to be done to determine the young child’s full medical history. Until then, she noted, “We don’t want people assuming or thinking that these tablets are not safe.”
“I understand the father is in anguish, he is distraught and he is emotional but the question has to be asked, ‘What about the others who have taken the tablets and had no such effects?”
“I don’t want people out there to be fearful of taking the tablets because we are trying to do something that is good; and something that is positive. What is most important is that people take them. You have to take them for five consecutive years before we can dream of Guyana eliminating the filaria worm,” she underscored.
Even as the Ministry of Public Health in a statement extended condolences to the family of the now dead child who passed away on October 27 last at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC], it pointed out that a post mortem [PM] examination did not connect the death to the filaria tablets.
It was revealed that the PM performed by Dr. Nancy Olario, the institution’s Pathologist, on October 29 did not point to any linkage between the ingestion of the tablets and the child’s demise.
“The Ministry is confident that the drugs being administered on the Filaria Campaign are SAFE,” the Ministry emphasised in its statement.
The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis began in 2001 in Guyana. Since the year 2008, six regions have benefitted from the Mass Distribution of the tablets [100mg DEC and 400mg Albendazole] at the predefined doses. In 2016, 277,612 persons from Regions Three, Four, Five and 10 received the drugs via Directly Observed Therapy (DOT).
Prior to this initiative, thousands of Guyanese received Diethylcarbamazine in DEC salt.
The medicines being distributed are donations from the World Health Organization through its regional office the Pan American Health Organization.
According to the Ministry, the donation process begins with the exchange of documents which include: a certificate of good manufacturing practice [issued by the Ministry of Health in the country where the tablets are manufactured]; a certificate of analysis of the tablets which assures product quality assurance and an information leaflet on the tablet which details its indications, considerations and precautions, dosage and side effects.
The documents are first perused by the Permanent Secretary and Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Public Health before the drugs are approved for shipment.
While there are side-effects that have been linked to the tablets, the Minister made it clear that the adverse effects listed are pretty uncommon and occur mostly in patients who have a significant worm burden. However, it was asserted that adverse effects have been found to subside within 24 hours.
“Any person who experiences these adverse effects beyond this time should seek medical attention,” the Ministry outlined as it pointed out that “in the nine years of tablet distribution, the country boasts that there have been no serious adverse events that have led to hospitalisation, disability nor death.”
As such, the Ministry said that it will continue to provide the DOT Treatment in an on-going effort to protect the public from the chronic, debilitation caused by Filariasis and “we urge all eligible citizens to participate.”

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