Dr. Holló Ferenc szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 3. (Budapest, 1970)

Nevertheless, some adverse, toxic effects on the nervous system were reported in the early period of piperazine therapy (10, 6, 3, 4). Although symptoms of intolerance (vertigo, myasthenia, tremor, disorders of motility and coordination, epileptiform convulsions) disappear soon after stopping the medication,piperazine cannot he administered to patients with latent and manifest epilepsy or to those with an increased spasmophilia (9). The drug can he given only with great caution to patients with a case history of allergy.Since piperazine does not destroy the roundworms sensitisation due to released allergens will not occur. However, allergic symptoms can occasionally he observed during treatment. In spite of the high efficacy of piperazine

,these disadvantages provide reasons for seeking new anthelminthics which may be available as drugs of choice,for both individual and large scale medication of ascaridosis. Papers on the suitable anthelminthic action of a new drug, tet ramisole (Janssen), were first published in veterinary journals and more recently in medical periodicals. The active ingredient of tetramisole is represented by 2, 3, 5, 6-tetrahydro-6-phenyl-imidazo/2

, 1-6/ thiazohydrochloride

. It is a white, stable, crystalline compound, soluble up to 21 fo in water of 20° C,and is characterized by a melting point of 264° 0. According to pharmacological studies carried out so far the new drug is non-toxic and well tolerated. Its therapeutic index, studied in a number of species,has proved favourable; the drug, having exerted its effects,is eliminated from the host organism within a few hours. Tetramisole and its metabolic products are excreted in faeces, urine and bronchial mucus. Comprehensive laboratory investigations revealed no change in the blood picture or urine, nor in liver function resulting from use of the drug (22).