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Article History

Received: 21 November 2018

Accepted: 5 March 2019

First Online: 18 March 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study protocol has been approved by the institutional research commissions of the Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS) in Abidjan, Public Health Laboratory Ivo de Carneri (PHL-IdC) in Pemba, National Institute of Public Health (NIOPH) in Vientiane, and Swiss TPH in Basel. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committees in Switzerland: “Ethikkommission Nordwest- und Zentralschweiz” (BASEC Nr Req-2018-00494; date of approval 05 July 2018); in Côte d’Ivoire: Comité National d’Éthique et de la Recherche, Ministère de la Santé et de Lutte contre le SIDA (reference no. 088–18/MSHP/CNESVS-km; date of approval 24 January 2019) and Direction de la Pharmacie, du Médicament et des Laboratoires (reference no. ECCI00918; date of approval <i>to be issued</i>); in Pemba: Zanzibar Medical Research and Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health (protocol no. ZAMREC/0003/Feb/2018; date of approval 23 May 2018); and in Lao PDR: National Ethics Committee for Health Research, Ministry of Health (reference no. 093/NECHR; date of approval 23 October 2018). Written informed consent will be sought from adults and parents or legal guardians of children below the age of adulthood (21 years in Côte d’Ivoire and 18 years in Pemba and Lao PDR) prior to study enrollment. Children aged below the age of adulthood will sign an informed assent form. The informed consent is provided by trained field staff in the local language and the participant will receive a copy of the consent form in written format. Participation is voluntary and study participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any given point in time with no further obligations. Participants will be treated free of charge at the end of the trial with albendazole. A general liability insurance of the Swiss TPH is in place (Winterthur Police Nr. 4,746,321) and patient liability insurances will be issued in the respective trial countries to cover any potential study-related harm.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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