ABSTRACT
Hymenolepis nana [human infecting tapeworm] and H. diminuta [rodent infecting tapeworm] are currently incriminated to be the cause of non-specific bowel disturbances. They are in most instances resistant to the available anticestodal compounds due to misuse of drugs and probably adaptation of the parasites to the commercially available drugs Our objective is to study the toxicity and curative efficacy of different medicinal plants that are candidate for the treatment of tapeworm infections in man. Four medicinal plants were tested for their ability to treat Hymenolepis diminuta tapeworm infection in rats. These plants are Amaranthus viridis, Cucurbita maxima, Hagenia abyssinica and Balanites aegyptiaca. Selection of these plants was based on ethnobotanical information. The evaluation of the efficiency of these medicinal plants was based on the controlled test design, modified from Moskey and Harwood10: Following pre-infection screening, and life cycle establishment rats were grouped to six experimental groups for each plant. Stool specimens were collected from all groups, the mean of eggs counts per gram of faeces were counted. The reduction percentage of eggs per gram [EPG] was calculated and time to clear eggs was compared with that of Niclosamide. Niclosamide drug was used in this study as a control treatment14. There were no signs of toxic effect on the rats due to administration of any of the tested medicinal plants. Amaranthus viridis leavs exhibited a very weak efficacy. It did not reduce eggs in either water or food significantly as compared to the untreated control group [p>0.05]. The deparasitization activity of this plant [35%] was not significant. Similarly, Balanites aegyptiaca seeds were not effective in treatment of the infection in rats. Egg counts and deparasitization in food and water, were not significantly [p>0.05] different from those of the untreated control group. On the other hand, Cucurbita maxima and Hagenia abyssinica seeds were very effective in the treatment of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in rats. Egg reduction [100%] was highly significant [p<0.01] in food and water as compared to that of the untreated control group of rats [zero%]. C. maxima seeds in food deparasitized 80% of the worms, while Hagenia abyssinica deparasitized 100%. Our conclusion was that Hagenia abyssinica was the most active plant of this group in the treatment of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in rats
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to search for Cryptosporidium parvum in Sudanese immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients presenting with diarrhea. Two hundred and thirteen stool specimens were collected from different groups of patients presenting with diarrhea and healthy control [immunocompromised: 78; immunocompetent: 90; Control: 45]. The immunocompromised group included 25 HIV positive patients, 27 tuberculosis patients, 11 patients with renal failure and 15 patients receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy. Antigen ELISA was performed to detect the presence of the parasite in stool. Positive specimens were examined by the modified ZN stain to look for the oocyst of C.parvum. Seventy one of the immunocompromised patients [91.0%], twenty nine of immunocompetent patients [32.2%] and ten of the control group [22.2%] were found to be positive for C.parvum. A significant difference was noticed between the immunocompromised patients and the other groups [P<0.05]. Among the immunocompromised patients, the highest percentage of positive results [96.1%] was in the HIV patients. The percentage of positive results within the tuberculosis, renal failure and immunosuppressive patients were 92.6%, 83.3% and 86.6% respectively. The significant detection of C. parvum among the different groups of immunocompromised should raise the awareness of the clinicians towards this parasite as an important cause of diarrhea in such groups of patients