Hymenolepis nana (H.nana) is the smallest, most common human tape-worm infection worldwide. This study investigated the therapeutic effect of a synthetic drug, praziquantel, and an-other agent of plant origin, Rosma-rinus officinalis oil, on experimentally H.nana-infected mice. Animals (130 laboratory-bred male Swiss albino mice) were classified into two groups, Group A for studying the efficacy of both drugs on the immature Hyme-nolepiasis, Group B for studying the efficacy of both drugs on mature Hy-menolepiasis; each group was then divided in to five subgroups. Histo-pathological changes of the intestinal mucosa, as well as the number and size of cysticercoids, were used to eval-uate the efficacy of tested drugs on the immature Hymenolepiasis. The total worm burden and the total egg output were used to evaluate the efficacy of tested drugs on the mature Hymenole-piasis. Results showed that the com-bined PZQ and Rosmarinus officinalis oil treated group demonstrated the best results regarding the reduction in the mean cysticercoids number and diameter (100%) as well as the resto-ration of the normal architecture of intestinal villi with undetectable cysti-cercoids in immature Hymenolepiasis, reduction in the total worm burden (TWB) and the total egg output (TEO) in mature Hymenolepiasis. Praziquan-tel effectively eradicated adult worms and rapidly improved pathological changes. The effect of Rosmarinus of-ficinalis oil on TWB and TEO was duration and dose dependent. In con-clusion Rosmarinus officinalis can be used as a food supplementation in pe-diatric infection to prevent internal and external autoinfection of hyme-nolepiasis and would be beneficial for at-risk patients who have a hypersen-sitivity to praziquantel or any other contraindication. |
