Treatment Methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Schistosomiasis and Other Trematode Infections

Disease caused by trematodes infections, such as the Schistosoma, Clonorchis sinensis, and Paragonimus westermani which caused the chronic disabilities, remains a global public health problem in a considerable part of the world. Also, we know vaccines are the mainstay of prophylactic treatment for infection disease. Unfortunately, until now, there is no effective vaccine to antischistosomiasis and other trematode infections; treatments of these diseases also rely on the effective drugs. Since praziquantel, a highly effective and safe antischistosomal drug, was developed, it has nearly replaced all other antitrematodes agents to become the only useful drug of choice for treatment against these diseases due to high efficacy, excellent tolerability, simple administration, and competitive cost. However, praziquantel also has many unignored side effects such as the drug resistant. Thus, it may need urgent further development for search some other safety and useful antitrematode alternatives. Traditional Chinese medicine commands a unique position among all traditional medicines, which have over 5,000 years of history. Traditional medicine focuses on the use of herbs and traditional Chinese medicine such as artemisinin and artesunate has performed well in clinical practice and shows potential in the therapy of Schistosomiasis and other trematodes diseases. Here, in this chapter, we attempt to briefly review some constituents and extracts from plants and traditional Chinese medicine, which have the activity against schistosomiasis and infections with other trematodes.