Meanings
- uncountablemedicineAn anthelmintic medication used to treat a number of types of parasitic worm infections, including clonorchiasis, cysticercosis, opisthorchiasis, schistosomiasis, and tapeworm infections.First known use 1970s
In the case of schistosomiasis, […] the techniques of molecular biology are being used to seek vaccines, and praziquantel has transformed therapy.
1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present, London: HarperCollins Publishers; republished London: Folio Society, 2016, →OCLC, page 4702 more examples
Praziquantel, (2-cyclohexylcarbonyl)-1,2,3,6,7,11b-hexa-hydro-2H pyrazino[2,1a]isoquinolin-4-one, belongs to a new series of antischistosomal compounds. The results of a detailed study of the efficacy of praziquantel on Schistosoma mansoni in mice, Mastomys and Syrian hamsters are described.
1977 July, R. Gönnert, P. Andrews, “Praziquantel, a New Broad-spectrum Antischistosomal Agent”, in Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde, volume 52, number 2, →DOI, abstract, page 129The drug praziquantel, which costs only 32 cents per child, would prevent schistosomiasis, a worm disease that starts as a urinary tract infection but, untreated, can lead to female genital sores that make it easier for H.I.V. to enter.
2009 May 26, Donald G[erald] McNeil Jr., “Parasites: Giving a deworming drug to girls could cut H.I.V. transmission in Africa”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2011
Origin
p(y)razi(ne) + qu(inoline) + -antel (“anthelmintic”). The drug was developed by the German pharmaceutical companies Bayer and Merck in the mid-1970s. The name is established as the drug’s international nonproprietary name.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
praziquantel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praziquantel
“praziquantel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praziquantel. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “praziquantel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praziquantel.
Source: praziquantel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.