Chemotherapy Of Parasitic Diseases

"Have a chew of dulie," said Crubog . . . "What is it?" asked Potter, half-suspiciously. "Seaweed. " "Is it good for the virility? . . . " "And what is the virility?" asked the old man. "Does it make you more attractive to women?" Potier shouted in his ear. "No. " "What is it good for then?" "WortnS. " "Worms?" "Intestinal worms. You'll never again pass a worm if you eat a fistful of dulse first thing in the morning and last thing at night. " "If it's an anthelmintic, I'll try a spot of it," said Potter. - From Bogmail, a novel by Patrick McGinley (1981) With modern techniques of chemical isolation and structure determination, the old distinction between herbal and chemical remedies has largely been broken down. By chemotherapy we now mean simply the treatment of disease by drugs (the word medicines has unhappily been eclipsed). The distinction made between chemotherapy and non chemical therapy (e. g. , radiation, physiotherapy, surgical intervention, immu nomodulation) remains useful despite some minor overlapping. The present work thus deals with drugs and their use in parasitic disease. (Since we are dealing with the treatment of incipient as well as established infection, chemotherapy subsumes chem oprophylaxis as well as chemotherapeusis per se. ) Definition of parasitism as a biological modus vivendi, although important in itself, need not concern us here. We need simply delimit the scope of the book, and that is easily done.

The International Society of Chemotherapy meets every two years to review progress in chemotherapy of infections and of malignant disease. Each meeting gets larger to encompass the extension of chemotherapy into new areas. In some instances, expansion has been rapid, for example in cephalosporins, pen icillins and combination chemotherapy of cancer - in others slow, as in the field of parasitology. New problems of resistance and untoward effects arise; reduction of host toxicity without loss of antitumour activity by new substances occupies wide attention. The improved results with cancer chemotherapy, es pecially in leukaemias, are leading to a greater prevalence of severe infection in patients so treated, pharmacokinetics of drugs in normal and diseased subjects is receiving increasing attention along with related problems of bioavailability and interactions between drugs. Meanwhile the attack on some of the major bacterial infections, such as gonorrhoea and tubercu losis, which were among the first infections to feel the impact of chemotherapy, still continue to be major world problems and are now under attack with new agents and new methods. From this wide field and the 1,000 papers read at the Congress we have produced Proceedings which reflect the variety and vigour of research in this important field of medicine. It was not possible to include all of the papers presented at the Congress but we have attempted to include most aspects of cur rent progress in chemotherapy.

The International Society of Chemotherapy meets every two years to review progress in chemotherapy of infections and of malignant disease. Each meeting gets larger to encompass the extension of chemotherapy into new areas. In some instances, expansion has been rapid, for example in cephalosporins, pen icillins and combination chemotherapy of cancer - in others slow, as in the field of parasitology. New problems of resistance and untoward effects arise; reduction of host toxicity without loss of antitumour activity by new substances occupies wide attention. The improved results with cancer chemotherapy, es pecially in leukaemias, are leading to a greater prevalence of severe infection in patients so treated, pharmacokinetics of drugs in normal and diseased subjects is receiving increasing attention along with related problems of bioavailability and interactions between drugs. Meanwhile the attack on some of the major bacterial infections, such as gonorrhoea and tubercu losis, which were among the first infections to feel the impact of chemotherapy, still continue to be major world problems and are now under attack with new agents and new methods. From this wide field and the 1,000 papers read at the Congress we have produced Proceedings which reflect the variety and vigour of research in this important field of medicine. It was not possible to include all of the papers presented at the Congress but we have attempted to include most aspects of cur rent progress in chemotherapy.

Control of parasitic infections of humans has progressed rapidly over the last three decades. Such advances have resulted from focal disease control efforts based on historically effective interventions to new approaches to control following intensive research and pilot programs. Control of Human Parasitic Diseases focuses on the present state of control of the significant human parasitic infectious diseases. Includes the impact of recent research findings on control strategy Discusses the health policy implications of these findings and the importance of evaluation and monitoring Highlights the lessons learned and the interactions between control programs and health systems

This specially commissioned text covers a range of topics relating to chemotherapy and the immune system.