Hookworm Infection

The goal of this Phase III clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of different treatment regimens for Trichuris trichiura infection in schoolchildren aged 6 to 15 years living in La Moskitia, Honduras, an area with a high burden of soil-transmitted helminth infections. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Are combination treatments of albendazole and ivermectin more effective than albendazole alone for treating Trichuris trichiura infection? * Does a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of albendazole and ivermectin achieve cure rates comparable to co-administration of the two drugs? * How effective are the different treatment regimens against other soil-transmitted helminths, including Strongyloides stercoralis? * What adverse events occur following treatment with the different regimens? * How acceptable are the different treatment regimens to children and their caregivers? Researchers will compare four treatment groups: placebo, albendazole alone, albendazole plus ivermectin, and a fixed-dose combination of albendazole plus ivermectin. Participants will: * Be randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups. * Receive a single dose of the assigned treatment. * Provide stool samples before treatment and approximately 21 days after treatment. * Undergo laboratory testing using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to detect and quantify helminth infections. * Be monitored for adverse events after treatment. * Complete acceptability assessments together with their caregivers. The study will provide evidence on the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of a fixed-dose combination of albendazole and ivermectin and its potential use as a simplified treatment strategy for the control of soil-transmitted helminth infections in endemic settings.

This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of emodepside compared to mebendazole in adults and adolescents infected with T. trichiura, either as single infection or co-infections with hookworm and/or A. lumbricoides.

An experimental hookworm infection model is being developed to provide early proof-of-concept that a hookworm vaccine targeting the blood-feeding pathway of adult hookworms is feasible and efficacious. The proposed model consists of vaccinating healthy, hookworm-naïve adults with a candidate hookworm vaccine, followed by challenging them with the investigational product, Necator americanus Larval Inoculum to assess the effect of vaccination on infection. The first proposed study will be a feasibility study that will consist of administering different doses of the Necator americanus Larval Inoculum to healthy adult volunteers to determine the optimal dose (i.e., number of infectious larvae) that is safe, well-tolerated and results in consistent infection.