CHEMOTHERAPY OF HELMINTHIC INFECTIONS
Helminths
(worms) are multicellular organisms that infect very large numbers of humans
and cause a broad range of diseases. Over 1 billion people are infected with
intestinal nematodes, and many millions are infected with filarial nematodes,
flukes, and tape-worms. They are an even greater problem in domestic animals.
Many drugs, which are directed against a number of different tar-gets, are
available to treat helminthic infections. In many cases, especially in the
developing world, the goal is control of infection, with elimination of most
parasites controlling disease symptoms and decreasing the transmission of
infection. In other cases, com-plete elimination of parasites is the goal of
therapy, although this goal can be challenging with certain helminthic
infections, because of both limited efficacy of drugs and frequent reinfection
after therapy in endemic areas.
Table 53–1 lists the
major helminthic infections and provides a guide to the drug of choice and
alternative drugs for each infec-tion. In the text that follows, these drugs
are arranged alphabeti-cally. In general, parasites should be identified before
treatment is started.
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