praziquantel

English

WOTD – 25 July 2017

Etymology

The skeletal formula of praziquantel

A scanning electron microscope image of a tapeworm (Cestoda). Praziquantel can be used to treat tapeworm infections.

p(y)razi(ne) +‎ qu(inoline) +‎ -antel (“anthelmintic”). The drug was developed by the German pharmaceutical companies Bayer and Merck in the mid-1970s. The name is established as the drug’s international nonproprietary name.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹæzɪˈkwæntɛl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: pra‧zi‧quan‧tel

Noun

praziquantel (uncountable)

1. (pharmacology) An anthelmintic medication used to treat a number of types of parasitic worm infections, including clonorchiasis, cysticercosis, opisthorchiasis, schistosomiasis, and tapeworm infections. [from 1970s]
   • 1977 July, R. Gönnert, P. Andrews, “Praziquantel, a New Broad-spectrum Antischistosomal Agent”, in Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde, volume 52, number 2, →DOI, abstract, page 129:

     Praziquantel, (2-cyclohexylcarbonyl)-1,2,3,6,7,11b-hexa-hydro-2H pyrazino[2,1a]isoquinolin-4-one, belongs to a new series of antischistosomal compounds. The results of a detailed study of the efficacy of praziquantel on Schistosoma mansoni in mice, Mastomys and Syrian hamsters are described.

   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present, London: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN; republished London: Folio Society, 2016, →OCLC, page 470:

     In the case of schistosomiasis, […] the techniques of molecular biology are being used to seek vaccines, and praziquantel has transformed therapy.

   • 2009 May 26, Donald G[erald] McNeil Jr., “Parasites: Giving a deworming drug to girls could cut H.I.V. transmission in Africa”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 March 2011:

     The drug praziquantel, which costs only 32 cents per child, would prevent schistosomiasis, a worm disease that starts as a urinary tract infection but, untreated, can lead to female genital sores that make it easier for H.I.V. to enter.

Further reading

• praziquantel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia