Chinese Medical Journal

18 THE CHINESE MEDICAL JOURNAL

and areca bismuth iodide compound in 6 cases—and all were completely

cured, while among 16 cases of T. saginata infection only 5 cases were

cured. It was concluded therefore that areca nut might be considered a specific for T. solium, while with T. saginata the therapeutic effect was only about 30 per cent effective. In recent years, through clinical application in this country, other authors have also proved that areca nut is more effective in the treatment of T. solium than T. saginata infections. In 1951 Chung and others(4) reported the cure of 32 out of 34 eases (94.1 per cent) of T. solium infection treated with areca nut, but in their 26 cases of T. saginata infection only 13 or 50 per cent were cured. In 1954 Wang (5) . reported on 106 cases of T. saginata infection treated with the same remedy, among which 50 cases or 47.2 per cent were successful.

With regard to the therapeutic effect of areca nut on human cases of Hymenolepis nana infection, Feng(3), Hsii(6) and Wang(7) have all obtained good results.

Areca nut has also been found efficacious by Chang(8), Fu(9) and Chia(10) in the treatment of Diphyllobothrium latum infection and by Wu and Chen(11) in Fasciolopsis buski infection.

_ To sum up, areca nut is very effective for T. solium, Hymenolepis nana, Diphyllobothrium latum and Fasciolopsis buski infections. It is also useful in the treatment of T. saginata infection, but the rate of cure _ is only about 30-50 per cent. Although T. seginata is less dangerous than T. solium,* yet the infection with the former is more widely distributed. The population in some localities is heavily infected with T. saginata. For example, in one district in Sik’ang reported by Wang(5), among 150 Tibetans examined 106 were found to harbor the parasite. Furthermore, T. saginata infection lasts very long; many of our patients had a history of twenty or more years. Hence, further research is needed to Increase the rate of cure in the tréatment of T. saginata infection.

The use of pumpkin seeds in the treatment of tapeworm infections is found in the literature, but the effectiveness and pharmacological action of the remedy do not seem to have been carefully investigated. Krayer(12) appears to have given the most detailed account of this drug. According to him pumpkin seeds are widely used for the treatment of human tapeworm: infections in the East, especially Lebanon. He pointed out that in most cases a greater part of the worm passed out but the scolex was seldom found. This happened with his treatment of 5 cases each with 30-35 gm extract of pumpkin seed that was equal to 600 gm of the seed.

“T. soliwm is more dangerous in that its larval stage, Cysticercus cellulosae, also occurs in man. A person harboring this tapeworm is not only a potential danger to himself but also to the community. The occurrence of Cysticercus bovis, the larval stage of T. saginata, in man has not yet been definitely established.

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