Artemisia dracunculus L. (tarragon) has a long history of use as a spice and remedy. Two well-described "cultivars" (Russian and French) are used widely and differ in ploidy level, morphology, and chemistry. Key biologically active secondary metabolites are essential oils (0.15-3.1%), coumarins (>1%), flavonoids, and phenolcarbonic acids. In vivo studies mainly in rodents, particularly from Ru...

Dracunculus globocephalus Mackin, 1927 (Nematoda: Dracunculoidea) is redescribed from specimens collected from the mesentery of the snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina (L.), in Louisiana, USA. The use of scanning electron microscopy, applied for the first time in this species, made it possible to study details in the structure of the cephalic end and the arrangement of male caudal papillae tha...

methods the mice were divided into six groups including a normal control group, a placebo group, and three treatment groups receiving 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg doses of hydroalcoholic extract via intraperitoneal (ip) injection followed by inoculation with c. albicans. a control+ group, inoculated only with c. albicans, was also employed. after all treatments, the mice were killed by cervical decap...

A third-stage (infective) larva of Dracunculus medinensis, the causative agent of Guinea worm disease, was recovered from a wild-caught Phrynobatrachus francisci frog in Chad. Although green frogs (Lithobates clamitans) have been experimentally infected with D. medinensis worms, our findings prove that frogs can serve as natural paratenic hosts.

Background and purpose: The status of medicinal plants in Iranian traditional medicine and rich existence of herbal sources, on one hand, and current problems in curing infections, on the other hand, are the factors to study medicinal plants more accurately. Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) is a herbaceous plant from Asteraceae family, available in planted and farming forms in Iran. This stu...

Dracunculiasis of the breast is a rare manifestation of prior infection with the parasite dracunculus medinensis (guinea worm). We describe a case of a 60- year-old woman, who had recently emigrated from Cameroon. She presented for an annual screening mammogram and was found to have coarse linear or coiled serpiginous calcifications. These findings were recognized as calcified guinea worms with...