Doxycycline for the treatment of nodding syndrome (DONS); the study protocol of a phase II randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Nodding syndrome is a poorly understood neurological disorder of unknown aetiology, affecting several thousand children in Africa. There has been a consistent epidemiological association with infection by the filarial parasite, Onchocerca volvulus and antibodies to leiomodin and DJ-1, cross-reacting with O.volvulus proteins, have been reported. We hypothesized that nodding syndrome is a neuro-inflammatory disorder, induced by antibodies to O.volvulus or its symbiont, Wolbachia, cross-reacting with human neuron proteins and that doxycycline, which kills Onchocerca through effects on Wolbachia, may be used as treatment.

Methods

This will be a two-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised phase II trial of doxycycline 100 mg daily for six weeks in 230 partici

SUBMITTER: Idro R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6402111 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature