anthelmintic

anthelmintic, any drug that acts against infections caused by parasitic worms (helminths).

Helminths can be divided into three groups: cestodes, or tapeworms; nematodes, or roundworms; and trematodes, or flukes. The helminths differ from other infectious organisms in that they have a complex body structure. They are multicellular and have partial or complete organ systems (e.g., muscular, nervous, digestive, and reproductive). Several of the drugs used to treat worm infections affect the nervous system of the parasite and result in muscle paralysis. Other drugs affect the uptake of glucose and thus energy stores. All are chemical agents and are generally administered orally, and many are used in both human and veterinary medicine. No anthelmintic, however, is completely effective, completely without toxic effect upon the host, or equally active against all worms.

Cestode anthelmintics

Tapeworms attach to the intestinal tract by a sucker or a sucking groove on the head (scolex). Unlike the nematodes and trematodes, tapeworms do not enter the host tissues. As a result, tapeworm infections in general are more easily treated than infections caused by worms that penetrate host tissues. In addition, because tapeworms are confined to the intestinal tract, they need not be killed by the drug, and the drug need not be absorbed when given by mouth. Thus, there usually is a wider margin of safety for cestode anthelmintics than for anthelmintics used to treat worm infections in sites other than the intestine. The term vermifuge is often applied to remedies that are used to remove intestinal worms.

The primary drugs used for cestode infections are albendazole and praziquantel. Albendazole inhibits the uptake of glucose by the helminth and therefore the production of energy. It has a spastic or paralytic effect on the worm. Praziquantel also produces tetanus-like contractions of the musculature of the worm. Unlike albendazole, praziquantel is readily absorbed from the intestinal tract. It is a broad-spectrum anthelmintic affecting both flukes and tapeworms.

Quinacrine, an early synthetic antimalarial later superseded, is often used as an anthelmintic for the treatment of tapeworm infection in dogs, cattle, and other animals.

Nematode anthelmintics

Treatment of roundworms is complicated by the fact that some live in blood, lymphatics, and other tissues (filarial worms) and thus require use of drugs that are absorbed from the intestinal tract and penetrate into tissues. Others are found primarily or solely in the intestinal tract (intestinal nematodes). Diethylcarbamazine and ivermectin, used for treating filarial worm infections, are absorbed from the intestinal tract. Blood levels are reached quickly, and action against the microfilariae is rapid. A severe allergic or febrile reaction due to the death of the microfilariae can follow the use of these drugs.

Like albendazole, mebendazole interferes with glucose uptake and consequently with the production of energy. Mebendazole accumulates in the intestine and is used for treating large intestinal roundworms (ascarids), hookworm, and whipworm infections. It is well tolerated, but abdominal discomfort and diarrhea can occur in patients with a severe infection.

Piperazine, introduced into human medicine about 1950 and shortly thereafter into veterinary medicine, relaxes the ascarids and pinworms (oxyurids) of humans and domesticated animals so that they are eliminated with the feces. Piperazine has been largely superseded by drugs such as mebendazole and pyrantel pamoate.

Pyrantel pamoate causes spastic paralysis of helminth muscle. Most of the drug is not absorbed from the intestinal tract, resulting in high levels in the intestinal lumen. It is a drug of choice in treating pinworm and is an alternative therapy for Ascaris infection, hookworm, and trichostrongolosis.

Thiabendazole, which is structurally related to albendazole and mebendazole, is used primarily for the treatment of several nematodes of cattle, horses, and sheep. Dithiazanine is another nematode anthelmintic used in veterinary medicine; it is effective against heartworms and threadworms. Levamisole is used in the treatment of lungworm infections in cattle. Phenothiazine, introduced in the 1930s, is still used against the wireworm (Haemonchus contortus) of sheep and cattle.

Hygromycin is an antibiotic that may also be used as an anthelmintic in the form of a feed additive to eliminate or reduce ascarids, nodular worms (Oesophagostomum), and whipworms (Trichuris) of swine, and the large roundworms (Ascaridia) and cecal worms (Heterakis) of poultry.

Trematode anthelmintics

Praziquantel is the most effective drug in treating infections caused by intestinal, liver, and lung flukes and is the drug of choice in the treatment of schistosomiasis (infections of blood flukes). Praziquantal causes contraction and spastic paralysis of the worm and also damages the membranes of the worm, which activates host defense mechanisms.