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Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasitic worm
Worm

A worm is a common name given to a diverse group of invertebrate animals that have a long, soft body and no legs. There are hundreds of thousands of species of worms, 2,700 of these are earthworms....
s (helminths) from the body, by either stunning or killing them. They may also be called vermifuges (stunning) or vermicides (killing).

ples of pharmaceuticals used as anthelmintics include:

Please note that many of these pharameuticals are extremely toxic.






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Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasitic worm
Worm

A worm is a common name given to a diverse group of invertebrate animals that have a long, soft body and no legs. There are hundreds of thousands of species of worms, 2,700 of these are earthworms....
s (helminths) from the body, by either stunning or killing them. They may also be called vermifuges (stunning) or vermicides (killing).

Pharmaceutical classes

Examples of pharmaceuticals used as anthelmintics include:
  • Abamectin
    Abamectin

    Abamectin is a widely used insecticide and antihelmintic....
     – effective against most common intestinal worms, except tapeworms, for which Praziquantel
    Praziquantel

    Praziquantel is an anthelmintic effective against flatworms.Praziquantel is not licensed for use in humans in the UK; it is, however, available as a veterinary anthelminthic, and is available for use in humans on a named-patient basis....
     is commonly used in conjunction with abamectin
  • Albendazole
    Albendazole

    Albendazole, marketed as Albenza, Eskazole, or Zentel, is a member of the benzimidazole compounds used as a medication indicated for the Pharmacotherapy of a variety of worm infestations....
     – effective against threadworms, roundworms, whipworms, tapeworms, hookworms
  • Diethylcarbamazine
    Diethylcarbamazine

    Diethylcarbamazine is an anthelmintic medication that does not resemble other antiparasitic compounds. It is a synthetic organic compound which is highly specific for several parasites and does not contain any toxic metallic elements....
     – effective against Wuchereria bancrofti
    Wuchereria bancrofti

    Wuchereria bancrofti or Filaria, is a parasite filariasis worm spread by a mosquito Vector . It is one of the three parasites that cause lymphatic filariasis....
    , Brugia malayi
    Brugia malayi

    Brugia malayi is a roundworm nematode, one of the three causative agents of lymphatic filariasis in humans. Lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, is a condition characterized by swelling of the lower limbs....
    , Brugia timori
    Brugia timori

    Brugia timori is a human filarial parasite which causes the disease "Timor filariasis." While this disease was first described in 1965, the identity of Brugia timori as the causative agent was not known until 1977....
    , tropical pulmonary eosinophilia
    Eosinophilia

    Eosinophilia is the state of having a high concentration of eosinophils in the blood. The normal concentration is between 0 and 0.5 x 109 eosinophils per litre of blood....
    , loiasis
  • Mebendazole
    Mebendazole

    Mebendazole or MBZ, marketed as Ovex, Vermox, Antiox, is a benzimidazole drug that is used to treat infestations by worms including pinworms, roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, and whipworms....
     – effective against pinworms, roundworms and hookworms
  • Niclosamide
    Niclosamide

    Niclosamide is a teniacide in the anthelmintic family especially effective against cestodes that infect humans. It is also used as a piscicide.It is stressed that while anthelmintics are a drug family used to treat worm infections, Niclosamide is used specifically to treat tapeworms and is not effective against worms such as pinworms or ro...
     – effective against tapeworms
  • Ivermectin
    Ivermectin

    Ivermectin is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic medication.It is sold under brand names Stromectol in the United States, Mectizan in Canada by Merck & Co....
     – effective against most common intestinal worms (except tapeworms)
  • Suramin
    Suramin

    Suramin is a medication developed by Oskar Dressel and Richard Kothe of Bayer, Germany in 1916, and is still sold by Bayer under the brand name Germanin....
  • Thiabendazole
    Thiabendazole

    Thiabendazole is a fungicide and parasite. It is known by the brand names Mintezol, Tresaderm, and Arbotect....
     – effective against roundworms, hookworms
  • Pyrantel pamoate
    Pyrantel pamoate

    Pyrantel pamoate is used as a deworming agent in the treatment of hookworms and roundworms in domesticated animals such as horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, cats, dogs, and many other species....
     – effective against most nematode infections
  • Levamisole
    Levamisole

    Levamisole is an antibiotic belonging to a class of synthetic imidazothiazole derivatives. It was discovered at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1966....
  • Piperazine
    Piperazine

    Piperazine is an organic compound that consists of a six-membered ring containing two opposing nitrogen atoms. Piperazine exists as small alkaline deliquescent crystals with a salt taste....
     family
  • Praziquantel
    Praziquantel

    Praziquantel is an anthelmintic effective against flatworms.Praziquantel is not licensed for use in humans in the UK; it is, however, available as a veterinary anthelminthic, and is available for use in humans on a named-patient basis....
     – effective against nematodes, some trematodes
  • Triclabendazole
    Triclabendazole

    Triclabendazole is a member of the Benzimidazole family of anthelmintics. The benzimidazole drugs share a common molecular structure, triclabendazole being the exception in having a chlorinated benzene ring but no carbamate group....
     – effective against liver fluke
    Liver fluke

    Liver flukes are a polyphyletic group of trematodes .Adults of liver flukes are localized in the liver of various mammals, including humans. These flatworms can occur in bile ducts, gallbladder, and liver parenchyma....
    s
  • Flubendazole
    Flubendazole

    Flubendazole is an anthelmintic....
     – effective against most intestinal parasites
  • Fenbendazole
    Fenbendazole

    Fenbendazole is a broad spectrum benzimidazole anthelmintic used against gastrointestinal parasites including roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, the taenia species of tapeworms, pinworms, aelurostrongylus, paragonimiasis, strongyles and strongyloides and can be administered to sheep, cattle, horses, fish, dogs, cats, rabbits and Pinnipeds....
     – effective against gastrointestinal parasites
  • Octadepsipeptides (eg: Emodepside
    Emodepside

    Emodepside is an anthelmintic drug that is effective against a number of gastrointestinal nematodes, is licensed for use in cats and belongs to the class of drugs known as the octadepsipeptides , a relatively new class of anthelmintic , which are suspected to achieve their anti-parasitic effect by a novel mechanism of action...
    ) – effective against a variety of gastrointestinal helminths
  • Amino Acetonitrile derivatives (eg: Monepantel): effective against a variety of gastrointestinal helminths including those resistant to the other drug classes.


Please note that many of these pharameuticals are extremely toxic. Taken in improper dosages they can be dangerous to humans as well as lethal to parasites.

Natural anthelmintics

Examples of naturally occurring anthelmintics include:
  • Tobacco
    Tobacco

    Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines....
     (Nicotiana tabacum
    Nicotiana tabacum

    Nicotiana tabacum, or cultivated Tobacco, is a Perennial plant herbaceous plant. It is found only in cultivation, where it is the most commonly grown of all plants in the Nicotiana genus, and its leaves are commercially grown in many countries to be processed into tobacco....
     & Nicotiana rustica
    Nicotiana rustica

    Nicotiana rustica, known in South America as Mapacho, is a plant in the Solanaceae family. It is a very potent variety of tobacco. The high concentration of nicotine in its leaves makes it useful for creating organic pesticides....
    )
  • Moringa Oleifera
    Moringa oleifera

    Moringa oleifera, commonly referred to simply as Moringa , , is the most widely cultivated variety of the genus Moringa. It is of the family Moringaceae....
     (Moringaceae) (Micronutrient Powder)
  • Black walnut
    Black Walnut

    Black walnut or American walnut is a species of Flowering plant tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America....
     (Juglans nigra)
  • wormwood (Artemisia absynthium)
  • clove
    Clove

    Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world....
     (Syzygium aromaticum)
  • tansy
    Tansy

    Tansy is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant of the Asteraceae family that is native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world and in some cases has become invasive....
     tea (Tanacetum vulgare)
  • Hagenia
    Hagenia

    Hagenia abyssinica is a species of flowering plant native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East Africa from Sudan and Ethiopia in the north, through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania, to Malawi and...
     (Hagenia abyssinica)
  • Garlic
    Garlic

    Allium sativum L., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive....
     (Allium sativum)
  • Pineapple
    Pineapple

    Pineapple is the common name for an edible tropical plant and also its fruit. It is native to the southern part of Brazil, and Paraguay. This herbaceous plant perennial plant grows to tall with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves long, surrounding a thick plant stem....
     (Ananas comosus)
  • kalonji
    Kalonji

    Kalonji may refer to:...
     (Nigella sativa) seeds
  • male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)
  • Plumeria
    Plumeria

    Plumeria is a small genus of 7-8 species native to tropical and subtropical Americas. The genus consists of mainly deciduous shrubs and trees....
     (P. acutifolia or P. rubra) in Brazilian folk medicine.
  • Peganum harmala


Please note that many natural vermifuges or anthelmintics are poisonous and, in improper dosages, dangerous to humans as well as parasites.

Anthelmintic resistance

The ability of worms to survive treatments that are generally effective at the recommended dose rate is considered a major threat to the future control of worm parasites of small ruminants and horses.

The clinical definition of resistance is a 95% or less reduction in a "Fecal Egg Count" test.

Development of resistance

Treatment with an antihelminthic drug kills worms whose genotype renders them susceptible to the drug. Worms that are resistant survive and pass on their "resistance" genes. Resistant worms accumulate and finally treatment failure occurs. See evolution
Evolution

In biology, evolution is change in the heritability trait of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes are caused by a combination of three main processes: variation, reproduction, and selection....
.

Footnotes


General references



External links