Antiprotozoal agents (ATC code: ATC P01) is a class of used in treatment of protozoan infection.
A paraphyletic group, have little in common with each other. For example, Entamoeba histolytica, a unikont eukaryotic organism, is more closely related to Homo sapiens (humans), which also belongs to the unikont phylogenetic group, than it is to Naegleria fowleri, a "protozoan" bikont. As a result, agents effective against one pathogen may not be effective against another.
Antiprotozoal agents can be grouped by mechanism
Overuse or misuse of antiprotozoals can lead to the development of antiprotozoal resistance.
Medical uses
Antiprotozoals are used to treat protozoal infections, which include
amebiasis,
giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis,
microsporidiosis,
malaria,
babesiosis,
trypanosomiasis,
Chagas disease,
leishmaniasis, and
toxoplasmosis.
Currently, many of the treatments for these infections are limited by their toxicity.
Outdated terminology
Protists were once considered protozoans, but of late the categorization of unicellar organisms has undergone rapid development, however in literature, including scientific, there tends to persist the usage of the term antiprotozoal when they really mean
anti-protist. Protists are a supercategory of
eukaryota which includes
protozoa.
Mechanism
The mechanisms of antiprotozoal drugs differ significantly drug to drug. For example, it appears that
eflornithine, a drug used to treat
trypanosomiasis, inhibits ornithine decarboxylase, while the
aminoglycoside antibiotic/antiprotozoals used to treat
leishmaniasis are thought to inhibit protein synthesis.
Examples
