controlled study of nitazoxanide [NTZ] 3 years after treatment of hepatitis C genotype

This study is an extension of an earlier, randomized; placebo-controlled that showed the efficacy of nitazoxanide [NTZ] 500 mg tablets twice daily for 6 months in treating HCV genotype 4. Access was available to 13/32 patients of the original study with chronic HCV during more than 3 years after the study was finished. One patient [with portal hypertension and oesophageal varices [O.V]] was among 3 with SVR out of 9 of the NTZ treated patients suggesting that NTZ could successfully be used even in patients with O.V. SVR remain so up to the end of the follow-up period compared to none of the other 4 patients who received placebo. A fourth patient of NTZ group achieved virological response at the end of follow-up although she firstly showed RVR and then viral breakthrough. Most of the remaining patients of the NTZ group who did not achieve SVR showed variable partial response. No serious adverse events were reported in both groups during treatment and thereafter

Detection of levamisole toxicity by chromatographic technique

Levamisole the leavo-isomer of tetramisole [2,3,5,6-tetrahydro-6-phenylimidazole [2,1-6] thozole], a potent oral anthelmintic drug frequently causes toxicity due to overdosage. The results of this work present the toxic effect of the drug taken in overdoses, as shown by its level in blood and urine in suicidal and accidental cases using chromatographic technique

Spurious poison level in human blood due to bacterial contamination

A considerable variation was noticed in poison concentration in the blood and the expected level according to the used dose. Bacterial contamination was one of the suggested causes. To prove this, digoxin was chosen for this study, its level in the serum was determined before and after bacterial inoculation by: Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staph ylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coIi, and Bacillus subtilis. After the drug concentration had been measured, 2 hours, 1 week and 2 weeks after bacterial contamination, it was found that after 2 weeks, the reduction in the mean concentrations reached from 7.8% to 30.3% according to the type of organism