Assessment of microfilarial loads in the skin of onchocerciasis patients after treatment with different regimens of doxycycline plus ivermectin

Table 5 Geometric means (GM) of mf/mg skin of patients treated with doxycycline plus ivermectin*

	Treatment group
	Ivermectin only	4 weeks doxycycline + ivermectin	6 weeks doxycycline + ivermectin
Mf-positives/persons examined	11/11	7/7	4/4
% of mf-positive patients	100 %	100 %	100 %
GM before doxycycline treatment	11.4	7.6	11.8
% of pre-treatment GM	100 %	100 %	100 %
Mf-positives/persons examined	11/11	7/7	4/4
% of mf-positive patients	100 %	100 %	100 %
GM* when ivermectin was administered	6.2	3.8	2.5
% of pre-treatment GM	54.4 %	50.0 %	21.2 %
Mf-positives/persons examined	0/11	0/7	0/4
% of mf-positive patients	0 %	0 %	0 %
GM at 2 months **	0	0	0
% of pre-treatment GM	0 %	0 %	0 %
Mf-positives/persons examined	8/11	1/7	0/4
% of mf-positive patients	72.7 %	14.3 %	0 %
GM at 12 months **	1.2	0.02	0
% of pre-treatment GM	10.8 %	0.3 %	0 %

* = Ivermectin was administered 8 months after doxycycline treatment. ** = Months after ivermectin treatment.