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Schistosomiasis is an infectious disease caused by trematode parasites of the genus Schistosoma. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 206.5 million people required preventive treatment, of which more than 88 million people were reported to have been treated1. Currently, three drugs are used for the treatment of schistosomiasis: praziquantel, metrifonate, and oxamniquine. All three have a history of success at the individual clinical level and in population or community-based chemotherapy2. However, praziquantel remains the drug of choice in humans because of its high efficacy, low toxicity, and affordability. Currently, large-scale administration of praziquantel (PZQ) is the main measure for controlling schistosomiasis, as recommended by WHO focusing on morbidity control3. According to WHO, praziquantel is available in 600 mg tablets and must be administered orally in a single dose of 40 mg/kg of body weight after a meal3. In some countries like Brazil, the Ministry of Health has its own guidelines. In this country, the praziquantel dose is given according to the age group: children up to 15 years old (60 mg/kg) and adults (50 mg/kg) of body weight4. Determining the treatment dosage by body weight using scales in a global preventive program is considered problematic due to a substantial risk of technical and systematic measurement errors5. In endemic areas, mainly in Africa, in order to facilitate treatment delivery, WHO recommends to administer praziquantel using a dose-pole, calculating the appropriate dosage by height instead of weight6. Studies have shown that height assessment rather than weighing scale in the treatment of schistosomiasis using the dose pole is promising6,7. However, praziquantel must be administered between an acceptable dosage (30-60 mg/kg) and an ideal dosage (40-60 mg/kg). The under dosing of the drug could result in a partial or inadequate treatment, as much as an over dosage could result in side-effects such as abdominal pain, nausea and headache6,7. The dose-pole use is based on the individual height and does not take into account individuals of the same height with different body weight. Baan et al.8 has shown, in African girls, that the use of the WHO pole dose is inaccurate in dosing the appropriate amount of praziquantel in overweight/obese girls. Thus, despite the dose-pole benefits particularly in a poor resource scenario, following a regimen of exposures to increasing amounts of PZQ, the development of a more accurate and straightforward method for calculating the optimal dose to reduce the error of weight-based treatment is urgently needed. Treatment performed in a large number of patients in areas where the drug is still administered based on weight, such as in Brazil, there is a grueling job of calculating adequate praziquantel dosing based on the individual’s weight. Thus, we present a mobile device-app called PraziCalc which facilitates and automatically calculates the optimal dosage of praziquantel based on the patient’s body weight, ensuring the effectiveness oftreatment and the recommended dosage.

Development of the PraziCalc mobile device-app to calculate praziquantel dosage in the treatment of schistosomiasis