A retrospective survey on side effects of praziquantel among 25,693 cases of schistosomiasis japonica

A retrospective survey involving 25,693 persons was carried out in four provinces and the city of Shanghai, China between December 1981 until May 1982 to document relatively serious side effects of praziquantel used in a mass treatment programme for schistosomiasis japonica. Only 122 or 0.47% of those participating in the study had experienced relatively serious side reactions to the drug. Most had only one kind of side effects but two or more were recorded in a few patients. Neuropsychiatric reactions were seen in 39 persons (0.15%,) cardiovascular reactions in 37 (0.14%), hepatic changes in four (0.02%), dermatological reactions in 18 (0.07%) and delayed reactions resulting in fatigue and inability to work in 29 (0.11%). Praziquantel remains the drug of choice for the treatment of oriental schistosomiasis, it is highly effective and although side effects are minimal, caution should be taken in the treatment of chronic disease with heart failure, ascites, poor hepatic compensation and renal failure.

Immunoglobulin synthesis in vitro by lymphocytes from patients with immune deficiency: requirements for a special serum factor

Certain patients with immune deficiency were encountered whose peripheral blood lymphocytes included no immunoglobulin-bearing cells. However, other markers of B type lymphocytes were observed; lymphocytes isolated free of macrophages showed the presence of receptors for the Fc fragment of IgG and for the third component of complement. One patient with a syndrome of thymoma and severe hypogammaglobulinemia was studied in special detail. In vitro the patient's cells were able to develop surface Ig in media supplemented with fetal-calf serum or normal human serum; in media supplemented with autologous serum, the cells developed no surface Ig. During culturing antigenic determinants of immunoglobulin became detectable in the medium, and both medium and cell-surface immunoglobulin underwent a shift from specific IgM determinants early in the culture period to IgG and IgA determinants later. Normal lymphocytes and thymocytes activated by concanavalin A repaired the deficiency in the patient's serum. These data support the concept that a factor possibly derived from T cells is missing from this patient's serum and that this factor is required for the maturation of the B cell for immunoglobulin synthesis.A patient with X-linked agammaglobulinemia had a population of circulating lymphocytes with some surface characteristics that appeared similar to those of the B cells from the patient with thymoma. In contrast, however, no Ig synthesis by this patient's cultured cells could be demonstrated. The possible nature of the lymphocytes reacting with aggregated IgG in this case is discussed.