Natural Products as Therapeutic Option for Echinococcossis

Until the 1980s surgery remained the only treatment option for cystic echinococcosis, a neglected tropical disease caused by infection with tapeworms of the genus Echinocococcus. Following the development of the benzmidazoles, there has been an increase in the use of chemotherapy over the years, especially as an adjunct to surgery or in the management of inoperable cysts. In spite of their usefulness, both surgery and chemotherapy are associated with significant limitations that warrants the search for or consideration of alternative treatment options such natural products. This chapter aims to discuss the scolicidal activity of different species of medicinal plants and their active metabolites in the treatment of echinococcosis. Excerpta Medica Database, Google Scholar, PubMed Central and Scopus were electronic databases used to retrieve the relevant literature. Medicinal plants used commonly and effectively against protoscoleces were Zataria multiflora, Nigella sativa, Berberis vulgaris, Zingiber officinale, and Allium sativum. Only Z. multiflora and A. sativum were shown to effective against Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces in vivo. In addition, these natural products have not been associated with any significant adverse effect. In animal models Thus, natural products with demonstrated activity against E. granulosus may serve as alternative therapy in the management of echinococcosis.