title: A review on most important herbal and synthetic antihelmintic drugs.
abstract: Parasites and parasitic diseases are widely spread in the world. Their adverse effects on health and social-economic society cause tremendous public health problems. Parasitic infections in different ways (water, soil, food and vegetables) can affect humans and induce other complications such as gastrointestinal disorders, malnutrition, anemia and allergies and sometimes even life threatening. Medicinal plants are being widely used, either as a single drug or in combination with synthetic drugs. These medicinal plants are considered as a valuable source of unique natural products and drugs for development of medicines against various disorders and diseases. In this article the recently published papers about medicinal plants and parasites were reviewed, using scientific sites such as Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar. The used terms included: herbal medicine, medicinal plants, and antihelmintic drugs, antinematoda, anticestoda, antitrematoda. From the above collected literature it might be concluded that these plants are promising potential sources for preparation of new drugs or for pharmacological and therapeutic applications.
authors.affiliation: Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bahmani
authors.affiliation: Medical Plants Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran. Electronic address: rafieian@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rafieian-Kopaei
authors.affiliation: Deputy for Food and Drug, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hassanzadazar
authors.affiliation: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kourosh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saki
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Ahmad
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Karamati
authors.affiliation: Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delfan
keywords: Anticestoda; Antihelmintic drugs; Antinematoda; Herbal medicine; Medicinal plant