Antiprotozoic

An antiprotozoic (pl. Antiprotozoic ) is a drug used to treat parasitic infectious diseases caused by protozoa , i.e. single-cell pathogens. This means that the antiprotozoic drugs belong to the group of antiparasitic drugs . The most common protozoal infections are malaria , trypanosomiasis , amoebic dysentery , leishmaniasis, and toxoplasmosis .

The antiprotozoic drugs are chemically very different substances whose mode of action intervenes in very different ways in the parasitic metabolism or reproduction, and also in different stages of development. With some (e.g. artemisinin ) the destruction of the morphological components of the unicellular organism ( cell membranes , mitochondria ) is assumed.

literature

• Wolfgang Forth, Dietrich Henschler , Walter Rummel (eds.): General and special pharmacology and toxicology. 5th, completely revised and expanded edition. BI-Wissenschafts-Verlag, Mannheim et al. 1987, ISBN 3-411-03150-6 .
• Helmut Hahn , Dietrich Falke , Stefan HE Kaufmann , Uwe Ullmann: Medical microbiology and infectious diseases. 5th, completely updated edition. Springer, Heidelberg et al. 2004, ISBN 3-540-21971-4 .