Mebendazole or MBZ is a benzimidazole

Benzimidazole

Benzimidazole is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound. This bicyclic compound consists of the fusion of benzene and imidazole. The most prominent benzimidazole compound in nature is N-ribosyl-dimethylbenzimidazole, which serves as an axial ligand for cobalt in vitamin B12. Benzimidazole, in...

 drug developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica

Janssen Pharmaceutica

Janssen Pharmaceutica is pharmaceutical company, established in Belgium in 1953 by Paul Janssen. Its headquarters are located in Beerse, in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp, Belgium. It was created not as a subsidiary of a chemical factory but solely with the aim of conducting...

 and marketed as Vermox, Ovex, Antiox, and Pripsen. It is used to treat infestations by worm

Worm

The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...

s including pinworm

Pinworm

The pinworm , also known as threadworm or seatworm, is a nematode and a common human intestinal parasite, especially in children...

s, roundworms, tapeworms, hookworm

Hookworm

The hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...

s, and whipworm

Whipworm

The human tapworm is a roundworm, which causes trichuriasis when it infects a human large intestine. The name whipworm refers to the shape of the worm; they look like whips with wider "handles" at the posterior end.-Life cycle:The female T. trichiura produces 2,000–10,000 single celled eggs per day...

s.

Medical use

The drug is a highly effective broad spectrum anthelmintic indicated for the treatment of nematode infestations, including round worm, whip worm, thread worm, and hook worm. It is poorly absorbed and has no systemic effects.

Mechanism

Mebendazole is thought to work by selectively inhibiting the synthesis of microtubules in parasitic worms, and by destroying extant cytoplasmic microtubes in their intestinal cells: thereby blocking the uptake of glucose and other nutrients, resulting in the gradual immobilization and eventual death of the helminths.

Dosage

Oral dosage for treatment of pinworms is 100 mg taken once. This regimen is repeated two weeks later if the infestation has not cleared up. Oral dosage for treatment of whipworm, common roundworm and hookworm is one 100-mg tablet morning and evening for 3 consecutive days. Dosage is the same for both adults and children.

Adverse effects

Mebendazole is relatively free of toxic side effects or adverse reactions, although patients may complain of transient abdominal pain, diarrhea, slight headache, fever, dizziness, exanthema, urticaria and angioedema.

Pregnancy

Mebendazole is contraindicated in pregnant women because it has been shown to be embryotoxic and teratogenic

Teratology

Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development. It is often thought of as the study of human birth defects, but it is much broader than that, taking in other non-birth developmental stages, including puberty; and other non-human life forms, including plants.- Etymology :The...

 in experimental animals.

Drug interactions

Carbamazepine

Carbamazepine

Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder, as well as trigeminal neuralgia...

 and phenytoin

Phenytoin

Phenytoin sodium is a commonly used antiepileptic. Phenytoin acts to suppress the abnormal brain activity seen in seizure by reducing electrical conductance among brain cells by stabilizing the inactive state of voltage-gated sodium channels...

 lower serum levels of mebendazole. Cimetidine

Cimetidine

Cimetidine INN is a histamine H2-receptor antagonist that inhibits the production of acid in the stomach. It is largely used in the treatment of heartburn and peptic ulcers. It is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Tagamet...

 does not appreciably raise serum mebendazole, consistent with its poor systemic absorption.

Stevens–Johnson syndrome (toxic epidermal necrolysis) can occur when mebendazole is combined with high doses of metronidazole.

External links

• Vermox (UK manufacturer's website)