Parasites
Thomas T. Yoshikawa, Shobita Rajagopalan in Antibiotic Therapy for Geriatric Patients, 2005
In this selective review, we will emphasize the parasitic differential diagnoses of common clinical manifestations, i.e., fever, eosinophilia, and rash, affecting individuals including the elderly who have recently traveled to the developing world. Detailed information regarding specific parasitic diseases may be reviewed from the suggested reading section provided at the end of this chapter. Although the incidence of many of these parasitic illnesses among older travelers is unknown, surveillance systems, i.e., GeoSentinel, from the International Society of Travel Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and TropNetEurop, the European Network on Imported Infectious Disease Surveillance, are beginning to yield more information. The pharmacotherapy of parasitic infections is discussed in Chapter 26: Antiparasitic Drugs.
Communicable diseases
Liam J. Donaldson, Paul D. Rutter in Donaldsons' Essential Public Health, 2017
African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) is caused by a parasite (Trypanosoma brucei gambiense or Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense) spread by the bite of infected tsetse flies. The parasite invades the central nervous system, causing a range of unusual and debilitating symptoms, including alteration of the biological clock (hence the term sleeping sickness). These symptoms develop over a period of months to years. Trypanosomiasis is fatal if untreated. The gambiense form accounts for 98% of cases, and affects 24 countries in western and central Africa. The rhodesiene form is more rapidly progressive and affects 13 countries, in eastern and southern Africa. Oral antiparasitic drugs are effective treatment. The mainstays of control are prompt diagnosis and treatment of cases, and measures to reduce the presence of the tsetse fly.
The Application of Fragment-based Approaches to the Discovery of Drugs for Neglected Tropical Diseases
Venkatesan Jayaprakash, Daniele Castagnolo, Yusuf Özkay in Medicinal Chemistry of Neglected and Tropical Diseases, 2019
Blaazer et al. (2015) screened a commercially available library of 1040 fragments (with slightly higher molecular weight and complexity than a rule-of-three compliant fragment library) against T. brucei PDEB1 (TbPDEB1) using a luminescence-based biochemical assay. In parallel, fragments were tested against a human PDE (PDE4D) in order to facilitate prioritization of fragment hits selective for the parasite enzyme. A set of twelve fragments that inhibit TbPDEB1 by more than 90% at a concentration of 200 μM was identified in the screen, as was a set of seven fragments that show selectivity for TbPDEB1 over human PDE4D. Blaazer et al. (2015) focused on a set of four fragment hits (Table 1) that shared similarity with the scaffolds of known drugs. These fragments, along with analogues of each chosen from in-house libraries of drug-like compounds, were then tested for whole-cell activity against a panel of parasites (T. brucei, T. cruzi, Leishmania infantum and Plasmodium falciparum) as well as human cells. The two fragment hits with the highest molecular weight (which share a biphenyl core) showed antiparasitic activity against multiple parasites, as did a number of analogues. Two analogues (Table 1) with improved antiparasitic activity (meeting or surpassing that of benznidazole and miltefosine against T. cruzi and L. infantum, respectively) and selectivity are under further investigation (Blaazer et al. 2015). Whether the antiparasitic effect of these compounds is a consequence of PDE inhibition remains to be reported.
Nanoparticles for antiparasitic drug delivery
Published in Drug Delivery, 2019
Yuzhu Sun, Dongmei Chen, Yuanhu Pan, Wei Qu, Haihong Hao, Xu Wang, Zhenli Liu, Shuyu Xie
Chemical antiparasitic drugs are mainly used for controlling parasitic diseases. They are critical in animal husbandry development and animal health safety, but most antiparasitic drugs have low bioavailability due to their insolubility and their short half-life. Therefore, the treatment of parasitic diseases needs frequent dosage for a long-time because of the long-life cycles of parasites. The repeated treatment might cause animal stress, big labor intensity of farmer and drug resistance (Vercruysse et al., 2007). For example, praziquantel is hardly soluble in aqueous solution and its bioavailability is poor regarding its natural metabolism in the liver and rapid elimination from the body. The repeated high doses for a long time are required in the treatment of cestode infection and thus might result in dizziness, tiredness, nausea, and hangover sense.
Diagnostic and management strategies of ocular cysticercosis: current perspectives
Published in Expert Review of Ophthalmology, 2020
Viroj Wiwanitkit
Focusing on diagnosis, the important step is the awareness of ophthalmologist. There are many available tools that can help presumptive diagnosis of ocular cysticercosis. The imaging investigation might show ocular cystic lesion. Nevertheless, the only method to get definitive diagnosis is the histopathology examination on surgical removal specimen of the cyst. In endemic area, most of the ocular cystic lesions are usually ocular cysticercosis. Nevertheless, surgical removal is sometimes difficult and might be selected as the first choice for diagnostic approach. If the diagnosis is made, the proper management is a challenge. If it is possible, the first choice should be surgical removal. With improved ocular surgery techniques, the surgical removal of ocular cysticercosis is considered safe and effective. Early treatment is preferred since delayed treatment might result in an extension of pathological lesion. Similar to any ocular surgery, the complication might occur. The good preoperative evaluation and good operative preparation are necessary for success in treatment of the patient. In addition to surgical approach, the antiparasitic drug must be concurrently used for curative treatment. The antiparasitic drug can help getting rid of the parasitic infection that might be hidden in any other organs of the patient.
Investigation of the toxicological and inhibitory effects of some benzimidazole agents on acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase enzymes
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2021
Fikret Türkan
Antiparasitic drugs such as benzimidazoles are used in the prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases in animals, and the prominence of these drugs is increasing for animals that feed externally (Turkan et al.2019a). Some benzimidazoles derivatives such as ricobendazole, thiabendazole, albendazole and oxfendazole are some important antiparasitic drugs (Turkan et al. 2018a). These antiparasitic drugs are common drugs and used on animals. Various new benzimidazole derivatives have been developed which are used for the enhancing of antiparasitic activity and for the change of pharmacokinetic properties (Liang, Wang and Wang 2015, Nishida et al.1970, Gondolova et al.2018, Taslimi et al.2018c, Cetin et al.2019, Ekinci Akdemir et al.2016). The drugs in the benzimidazole class are widely used in the prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases in veterinary medicine (Türkan et al. 2018b).
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