Nematicides – Antihelmintic Drugs

So let's move on to the antihelminthic agents. We'll start of with the nematodes. So the nematicidal agents start off with albendazole. It's probably first in alphabet but it's also first in choices. It's a very, very good agent. It inhibits microtubule assembly which is essential for the structural stability of the organism. It kills the ova or eggs in ascariasis and these other agents. It is also going to kill the larva in ascariasis and cysticercosis which is also called the pork tapeworm. It is larvicidal in hookworm. And it is also larvicidal in hydatid disease. So we use this agent in a number of different types of infections that are listed there. In terms of toxicity from this agent, because the agent is used for such a short duration or time, toxicity is really quite rare. Sometimes we'll see a reversible drop in white cell count. And sometimes we'll see a short time rise in liver enzymes with prolonged used. But the times that we actually use this for prolonged usages is really quite rare. So becomes mostly a non issue. Diethylcarbamazine is quite an interesting drug. We actually use it to immobilize the microfilariae by an unknown mechanism. And it is used in eye worm. So this is actually an image of an eye worm. So you can actually see them in the square, in the iris of a patient. It looks like a white line that actually moves around. It's actually quite a horrific thing to see if you've ever seen it live. Toxicity to this medication, reactions to proteins of dying filariae include fever, rash and ocular damage. So it's not so much the drug itself that's causing the toxic reaction. It's a fact that when these filariae are dying, those break down proteins are...