trans

436 MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS
TABLE 17.1
(Continued)
Drug
Treatment of filariae
Ivermectin
Diethylcarbamazine
Treatment of trematodes and cestodes
Praziquantel
Bithionol
Albendazole
Use
Onchocerca volvulus
Strongyloides stercoralis
Mansonella ozzardi and M. streptocerca
Wuchereria bancrofti
Brugia malayi
Brugia timori
Mansonella streptocerca
Loa loa
Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia
Schistosoma spp.
Clonorchis sinensis
Opisthorchis viverrini
Paragonimus westermani
Fasciolopsis buski
Heterophyes heterophyes
Metagonimus yokogawai
Metorchis conjunctus
Nanophyetus salmincola
Taenia solium (adult worm and cysticercosis)
Taenia saginata
Diphyllobothrium latum
Hymenolepis nana
Dipylidium caninum
Fasciola hepatica
Neurocysticercosis
Echinococcosis
and evaluate a series of related organic compounds.
The result led to the introduction of
quinacrine following the war and eventually
chloroquine, which became one of the most
successful anti-parasitic drugs.
The modern era of parasitology began with
the introduction of the light microscope.
Anthonius von Leeuwenhoek is credited with
identifying the first protozoal pathogen, Giardia
lamblia, in his stool during a bout of acute
diarrhea in 1681. By the second decade of
the twentieth century the major parasitic
pathogens had been identified and their epidemiologies
and life cycles described. While
these advances had little immediate impact on
the development of chemotherapy, they provided
the foundation for recent developments
in molecular parasitology that hold great
promise for the future.
For basic scientists and clinical investigators,
the rational design of new drugs has always
engendered great enthusiasm. The strategy is to
identify an essential parasite molecule or pathway
(Table 17.2). Then, once a potential target
is characterized, the medicinal chemist is called
upon to synthesize specific inhibitor(s). Ideally
the resulting compound is: (a) selectively active
against the target in the parasite and not against
MEDICAL APPLICATIONS