- Allergy treatment
- Antimicrobials for systemic use
- Antiparasitic drugs
- Cardiovascular system
- Dermatology
- Drugs affecting metabolism
- Drugs used in sensory organ disorders
- Gastrointestinal tract
- Haemopoietic system and blood
- Locomotor system
- Nervous system
- Respiratory system
- Systemic hormones
- Urogenital system and Sexual hormones
Antiparasitic drugs
- Antiparasitic treatment options
Antiparasitic drugs are a type of medical preparations that are used in treatment of parasite infestations. The term parasite infestation itself refers to a group of disorders which are caused by invasion of the human body with other multicellular or unicellular organisms. Such organisms may include:
- Helminths: nematodes, cestodes, trematodes and etc.
- Protozoa
- Amoeba
- Ectoparasites such as: lice, fleas, mites, ticks and etc.
Different approaches are used in treatment of the infestations, depending on the cause of the disorder. Some of the parasites may cause parasitic disease meaning that they transfer a pathogenic bacteria or other type of microorganism which causes the disorder. In other cases the parasite itself produces certain toxins and releases them in the organism, thus causing the pathological process to occur.
In treatment of the parasitic disease different approaches are normally used, so the full classification of antiparasitic drugs is strongly related to the type of parasite which the drug is affecting.
The preparation that fall into the category of antiparasitic drugs include the following:
1. Antihelmintic preparations
- Abamectin effective against most common intestinal worms, excluding tapeworms, the drug may also be used in combination with Praziquantel
- Albendazole effective against threadworms, roundworms, whipworms, tapeworms, hookworms
- Diethylcarbamazine effective against Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, Brugia timori, tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, loiasis
- Mebendazole effective against pinworms, roundworms and hookworms
- Niclosamide effective against tapeworms
- Ivermectin effective against most common intestinal worms, excluding tapeworms
- Suramin (Germanin) effective in treatment of onchocerciasis, however
- Thiabendazole effective against roundworms, hookworms
- Pyrantel pamoate effective against most nematode infections
- Levamisole
- Piperazines
- Praziquantel effective against nematodes and certain species of trematodes
- Triclabendazole effective against liver flukes
- Flubendazole effective against most intestinal parasites
- Fenbendazole effective against gastrointestinal parasites
- Octadepsipeptides and its derivatives effective against a variety of gastrointestinal helminths
- Amino Acetonitrile derivatives - effective against a variety of gastrointestinal helminths including those resistant to the other drug classes.
2. Antiprotozoal agents
- Antimalarial drugs
- Drugs used in treatment of Trichomonas infections including organic arsenic compounds
- Tetracycline antibiotics
- Phytoncides preparations of plant origin that exert antiprotozoal effects
3. Anti-amoebic drugs
- Luminal amebicides medicinal substance which are prescribed in treatmetn of ameoba infections localized in the intestines.
- Direct amebicides preparations that directly affect the ameoba organisms.
- Indirect amebicides the drugs work by affecting the intestinal flora thus making the amoeba unable to find nutritive substances needed for their development.
- Tissue amebicides drugs that affect the ameoba cells in the tissues of the human host.
- Mixed both luminal and tissue amebicides
4. Preparations used in treatment of ectoparasite invasions this group of drugs varies differently depending on the type of ectoparasite affecting the human host. Among drugs used in treatment of the disorder such preparations as benzyl benzoate, phenothrin and etc. are used.
