Why piperazine should be withdrawn
Pedro argues for the withdrawal of piperazine, an old anthelmintic, recording a pharmacological debate of his time.
Piperazine was, for decades, the most used dewormer in Brazil against roundworm and pinworm. Cheap and sold without prescription, it was in every home. In 2004, Pedro argued publicly for its withdrawal, in favour of newer anthelmintics, more effective and with fewer adverse effects, especially neurological ones.
It is a text of clinical pharmacology written for lay readers, something rare in neighbourhood newspapers. It shows a doctor who followed the literature and who saw, in the office, the effects of an old drug used out of habit.
The debate belongs to its time: piperazine kept losing ground and is little used today. The memorial preserves the text as a record of a published technical opinion, not as current advice.
This article is part of the historical archive of Pedro Moretti Guedes. It should be read as a document of its time: Medicine, pharmacology and health recommendations have changed since publication.
The original clipping is preserved by the family and will be published here once the scan can be checked against the original.