treatment

Mebendazole and albendazole are the antihelmintic agents most commonly prescribed to cure infection.*

These medications immobilize and eventually kill the parasite by impairing glucose uptake by the larval and adult stages.  By binding to the colchicine-sensitive site of tubulin, these medications prevent polymerization or assembly of tubulin subunits into microtubules.  Thus immobilized, the parasites exhaust their protective glycogen stores in response to insufficient energy production and eventually starve to death.
 

prevention

Public health experts focus on the parasite's life cycle and mode of transmission, including reservoirs and hosts, when developing prevention strategies for inhabitants of endemic areas.

Based on this knowledge, inhabitants of endemic areas are advised as follows:

• Do not eat uncooked fish and other aquatic animals.
• Control rodents, as these are hosts of the Capillaria spp. parasites.
• Improve hygiene: do not eat, drink, or bathe in waters in which humans defecate; and ensure sanitary disposal of human feces, away from water sources shared by human populations.
• Prevent pica, especially in children.