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Review
. 2022 Nov 29;27(23):8327.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27238327.

Essential Oils as Novel Anthelmintic Drug Candidates

Sujogya Kumar Panda  1   2   3 , Marijn Daemen  1 , Gunanidhi Sahoo  3 , Walter Luyten  1
Affiliations
Review

Essential Oils as Novel Anthelmintic Drug Candidates

Sujogya Kumar Panda et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Helminths, with an estimated 1.5 billion annual global infections, are one of the major health challenges worldwide. The current strategy of the World Health Organization to prevent helminth infection includes increasing hygienic awareness, providing better sanitation and preventative anthelmintic drug therapy in vulnerable populations. Nowadays, anthelmintic drugs are used heavily in livestock, both in case of infection and as a preventative measure. However, this has led to the development of resistance against several of the most common drugs, such as levamisole, ivermectin and thiabendazole. As many as 70% of the livestock in developed countries now has helminths that are drug resistant, and multiple resistance is common. Because of this, novel anthelmintics are urgently needed to help combat large-scale production losses. Prior to this review, no comprehensive review of the anthelmintic effects of essential oils and their components existed. Multiple review articles have been published on the uses of a single plant and its extracts that only briefly touch upon their anthelmintic activity. This review aims to provide a detailed overview of essential oils and their components as anthelmintic treatment against a wider variety of helminths.

Keywords: anthelmintic; essential oil; gastro-intestinal nematodes; human helminths; synergy; toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of human helminths. (A) Female Ascaris lumbricoides (large human roundworm). (B) Schistosoma mansoni male and female. The smaller female resides in the tegumental fold of the male. (C) Dracunculus medinensis (Guinea worm) emerging from a human ankle. (D,E) Taenia saginata (beef tapeworm) scolex (head) and proglottid segment. (F) Ancylostoma duodenale (one of the two species of hookworm). All images reside in the public domain.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annual number of anthelmintic papers published from 1964 to 2020 according to PubMed—situation as of July 2020.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of species and their taxonomy in the retrieved publications. Cestoda, Trematoda and Monogenea belong to the phylum Platyhelminthes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of different anthelminthic assay methods in in vitro and in vivo experiments.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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