[Agranulocytosis--a complication of the chemotherapy of echinococcosis with mebendazole].

Only two of the 75 patients with echinococcosis, treated with mebendazole in a dose of 50 mg/kg b. m. for 30 days (single course) and administered from 1 to 13 courses with intervals of 1 to 3 months, developed agranulocytosis eventuating in death in one female patient. Analysis of blood levels of mebendazole and its metabolites permits a hypothesis that high concentrations thereof may have a toxic effect on the bone marrow, inducing its hypoplasia, in subjects sensitive to these substances.