The group of biologically active nitroheterocyclic compounds includes various 5-and 2-nitroimidazoles and 5-nitrofurans, which can be used as therapeutic agents against a variety of protozoan and bacterial (anaerobic) infections of humans and animals. The current status in the the treatment of giardiasis, trichomoniasis, balantidiasis, histomoniasis, and amebiasis (including infections due to opportunistic amebas) is presented. The most relevant drugs (benznidazole, furazolidone, metronidazole, misonidazole, nifurtimox, nimorazole, nitazoxanide, ornidazole, secnidazole, and tinidazole) are characterized with regard to their chemical, chemotherapeutic, toxicological, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacological properties, including the mechanism of action and resistance in certain parasitic protozoa.

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A method is presented which, for the first time, enables preparations to be tested costeffectively and on a large scale to determine their fungicidal effect. A possible residual effect of the preparation on the fungi during the incubation period is prevented by completely washing out any traces of preparations that are nearly insoluble in water from the fungal suspension by means of a cell harvester and using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 as the solvent. With its automated procedure, the method enables antimycotics to be tested in 8 or 12 concentrations with reproducible results. Despite the capital investment that is necessary, the new method is much more cost-effective than the original methods because the personnel involved per test compound can be considerably reduced.

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