The therapeutic efficency of a new amoebicide among prison inmates

Abstract

1. 1) The insanitary conditions of the prison under which the present field test was performed do not make it the ideal subject for clinical trials as was originally supposed, owing to the high relapse and reinfection rate. These adverse reactions because of the environmental conditions did not detract from the value of the experiment. It proved that the drugs were of value and were effective even under the most hazardous circumstances. 2. 2) Clinically asymptomatic male prison inmates with positive E. histolytica stools were tested on three coded drug preparations containing dicloracet-hydroxy-methylanilide (DHM) in groups of 35 inmates each, one group receiving a control drug. Neither the inmates tested nor I myself knew which preparation was which, offering a totally unbiased investigation. A total of 135 inmates were studied. Of the four coded preparations No. 69B was the least effective on all counts. Preparations 67B and 68B cured more inmates for longer periods of time than any of the other preparations. 3. 3) The type of parasite expelled in the stools has a direct bearing on the efficiency of the test drug, irrespective of the type of drug. When the pre-treatment stool had the active or trophozoite form alone, or the cyst form alone, more stools remained negative for a minimum of 3 months after treatment had been stopped than when the pre-treatment stools had both parasite forms combined. 4. 4) A prophylactic study with two of the test preparations, a blank (thiamine hydrochloride) and a control (diodoquin) on 80 parasite-free inmates was done. The blank had absolutely no effect; the two test preparations had more effect than the control. 5. 5) An ideal cheap amoebicidal drug has not been found that is 100 per cent. effective on all parasite forms. Dichloracet-hydroxy-methylanilide (DHM) seems to be of promise and has given excellent results in the present study. It warrants further investigation on a large scale. 6. 6) DHM in combination proved to be more effective than Entamide alone under the conditions of this study.