Anthelmintic Medication for 
Worms Outside of the Digestive 
Tract 
T HE term anthelmintic is usually applied to drugs intended to 
destroy worms in the lumen of the digestive tract, but it may 
also be applied to drugs intended to destroy worms in the 
lumen of other organs, such as the air passages of the lungs, or to 
worms in various tissues, including the blood, or in cavities, such as 
the peritoneal cavity. This latter group of anthelmintics has been 
discussed in a paper by Ransom and Hall (1912). As yet we have 
but few drugs of value against worms situated outside of the lumen 
of the digestive tract, and but few worms are as yet known to be 
susceptible to successful attack by these drugs. 
The cases in which worms not in the lumen of the digestive 
tract are amenable to anthelmintic treatment may be briefly sum¬ 
marized as follows: 
LIVER FLUKE MEDICATION 
The liver fluke of sheep may be successfully removed by means 
of male fern and its derivatives and to a lesser extent by kamala 
and its derivatives. The male fern treatment, which has received 
recognition in practice in Europe only during the last few years, was 
first proposed by Grassi and Calandruccio (1884; 1885) almost 40 
years ago. It was favorably reported on by Perroncito (1885; 1886), 
all of these Italian authorities detailing experiments which showed 
the value of the treatment in killing flukes! Over 20 years later, 
another Italian, Alessandrini (1908), reported experiments showing 
that male fern would kill flukes, and 3 years later Borini (1911) 
reported success with this drug against the liver fluke in sheep and 
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