ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF PAPAYA LATEX AGAINST PATENT HELIGMOSOMOIDES-POLYGYRUS INFECTIONS IN MICE

The purpose of this experiment was to study the possible anthelmintic activity of papaya latex (Carica papaya) against Heligmosomoides polyg yrus in experimentally infected mice. Five groups of BALB/C mice were infected with 100 Heligmosomoides polygyrus infective larvae/mouse. Af ter patency (day 22), four groups of mice (groups B, C, D and E) were given papaya latex suspended in water at dose levels of 2, 4, 6 and 8 g of papaya latex/kg body weight, respectively. One group of mice (gro up A) served as non-treated controls. All animals were necropsied on d ay 25, i.e. 3 days after treatment, for post-mortem worm counts. The p apaya latex showed an antiparasitic efficacy of 55.5, 60.3, 67.9 and 8 4.5% in groups B, C, D and E, respectively. The results may suggest a potential role of papaya latex as an anthelmintic against patent intes tinal nematodes of mammalian hosts.