Zentel - anti worm medicine for humans

hello!
My friend from the UK who works here just found out that her colleague takes a pill called Zentel off and on. Its an anti-worm medicine. Is this something you are all aware off, do you take it? Is it common? I went to check with my local pharmacy and they said it was very common as a prevention. ?? Never heard of this before

Zentel is a brand name of a drug called Albendazole, which is widely used for the treatment of worm infections. It is indicated for echinococcosis and neurocysticercosis (caused by tapeworms). May we know what exactly your concern is?

Yes i know, we just got the impression that people here were taking these worm pills as a precaution and I have never heard of this before, hence my question!!

Yes, albendazole can be used as a prophylaxis for worm infections. I don't know how frequently your friend takes it (too frequent administration/ off-label frequency may be harmful), however, there's no problem with using the drug to prevent protozoal infections.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/baylisa...als/index.html

Thank you Sagarneel, if you live in India is this something you might want to take, are these conditions common here?
thanks again

Well I am an Indian living in India. Here's my take on the topic (I may be wrong, and people might differ) - since I have grown up in India eating street foods and stuffs (water from roadside fast food vendors et al), I like many other Indians have developed an intrinsic immunity to protozoa. Hence, I may not require albendazole regularly, as my body is equipped to fight the bugs on its own. However, for someone who is used to completely different fooding (including clean/ bug free food) habits, it may be absolutely essential. Even Indian kids (an even adults who are not immune to the bugs) are prescribed these medicines as a prophylaxis (not by all docs, but some definitely do). Gastrointestinal protozoal infections are pretty common in India (the reasons drill down to the levels of the way crops are harvested here), and albendazole is an effective option against them.

Hope I could answer your question.

Ihave never heard of worms being a big worry for tourists. I've never heard of anyone taking prophylaxis.

Avoid pork... it comeswith tapeworm risk. Othetwise forget worms and worry about malaria etc etc

if you catch worms you will realize it soon enough, and it will be easy to treat it then.

Wow, thanks guys!

Alright, will be reading up on the internet more and check with my doctor too, I have just never heard of this before!

Is it sold over the counter in India or by prescription only? Thx.

Almost all prescription drugs are sold over the counter in India, though they aren't supposed to be.

The shops usually ask for prescription only if you want sleeping tablets or anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medicines.

The commonly available names for Albendazole are DWorm, Gekare etc - even if you forget the names, just ask for Albendazole.