Abstract:
Hydatidosis is one of the most important parasitic zoonoses in the world and the Middle East. The parasite produces cysts in the liver, lungs, CNS and many other organs in human. Treatment of hydatid disease is mainly surgical, with medical treatment being reserved as coadjuvant treatment. One of the major problems in hydatid cyst surgery is the rupture of the cyst leading to the formation of other secondary hydatid cysts in the abdominal cavity leading to recurrence of the disease. So, in treatment attempts, surgeons utilize several protoscolicidal agents such as cetrimide, silver nitrate, hypertonic saline, povidone iodine and dextrose solutions. In spite of the use of protoscolicidal agents during surgery, a notable rate of the recurrence of the disease in post-operation patients is still observed. Dissemination of protoscoleces during
surgery from ruptured cysts cause secondary infection in the host and using protoscolecidal agents before surgery might induce sclerosing cholangitis.
Regarding the above statements different attempts has been made for finding reliable and safe protoscolicidal agents. In this regards, we have used several chemical and herbal extracts both in vitro and in vivo studies on protoscoleces of hydatid cysts. Special attention was focused on garlic(Allium sativum), which has been used in herbal medicine for thousands of years for different medical purposes. In our experiments, we compared the in vitro efficacy of different extracts of garlic on protoscoleces according to the exposure time and concentration of the extracts. Different types of garlic extracts including: aqueous extract, chloroformic extract and hydro-alcoholic extract along with cetrimide and silver nitrate solutions as positive control, and normal saline as negative control, were used in our studies. The results showed that chloroformic extract of garlic had the highest protoscolecidal activity. In my plenary Speech, I'll summarize the advantages and disadvantage of the use of herbal and synthetic protoscolicidals as well as I'll report my laboratory experiences.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Seyed Mahmoud Sadjjadi is a Professor of Parasitology at the Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. His area of expertise is parasitic helminthes especially zoonotic parasites. The diagnosis and treatment of the parasitic helminthes is his main area of research. He authored or co-authored over 70 scientific papers published in reviewed journals and presented more than 120 research works at international and national conferences. He has co-authored 3 books and wrote a chapter entitled: Epidemiology of echinococcosis in the Middle East and Arabic North Africa In: Advances in Hydatid Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, which is under publication in Greece. He had the opportunity to be a research fellow at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool University and he is member of editorial board of different journals including Iranian Journal of Parasitology. He has supervised more than 15 Ph.D. and MSc. theses.