Diethylcarbamazine Price in Bangladesh

This shelf holds diethylcarbamazine, often shortened to DEC, a tablet that kills the thread-like worms behind lymphatic filariasis, known in Bangla as গোদ রোগ. Mosquitoes carry the infection, which can damage the lymph vessels and later cause swollen legs or a hydrocele. Despite the shelf name, DEC treats worms, not protozoa. The listings differ in tablet strength and maker, and every course is set by a doctor or a programme.

Other Anti-Protozoals sits under Anti-Protozoal.

How Diethylcarbamazine Works

The adult filarial worms live in the lymph vessels and release millions of tiny larvae, called microfilariae, into the blood at night. DEC clears these larvae quickly and damages some adult worms, which stops a mosquito from picking up the infection from that person. For this reason it has been given to whole communities, usually alongside albendazole, during mass drug administration rounds in the northern districts of Bangladesh.

Diethylcarbamazine on Arogga

• Filazine Diethylcarbamazine Citrate Tablet 100mg, from Hudson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the higher strength.
• Dicazin Diethylcarbamazine Citrate Tablet 50mg, from Cipla Ltd.
• Remazin Diethylcarbamazine Citrate Tablet 50mg, from Reman Drug Laboratories Ltd.

Doctors also prescribe DEC for tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, a filarial reaction in the lungs that causes a night-time cough and wheeze with very high eosinophil counts.

Before You Order Diethylcarbamazine

• A blood film taken at night, or an antigen test, usually confirms the infection before a personal course is prescribed.
• Fever, headache, body aches and itching in the first days come from dying worms; taking the tablets after food eases stomach upset.
• DEC is avoided in pregnancy, in young children unless a doctor directs it, and in people with serious heart or kidney disease.
• Get urgent care for a high fever that will not settle, breathlessness, a spreading red hot swelling of a limb, or painful swelling of the scrotum.

Living With Filarial Swelling

DEC does not reverse swelling that has already set in. Washing the affected leg daily with soap and clean water, drying between the toes, raising the limb at rest and treating small cuts early keep repeated infections away. A hydrocele can be repaired with surgery, which government hospitals offer.

Diethylcarbamazine Price in Bangladesh

DEC is an old, widely made medicine, so a strip is inexpensive; the price varies mainly by strength and maker. A course for one person is short, and during mass rounds the national programme handed the tablets out free. Bangladesh has run filariasis elimination campaigns for many years, so new infections are now rare and the tablets are bought mostly for confirmed cases and lung reactions.