Praziquantel (PZQ) belongs to a family of medicines called anthelmintics. These medicines are used to treat worm infections. Praziquantel kills the adult worms by causing the worms to have severe muscles spasms and making them immobile. Some worms are passed out of your body in your stool (poo). However, you may not notice them as worms are often broken up in the bowels. PZQ also helps to reduce the inflammation caused by the worms’ eggs lodging themselves in body tissue (although scarring can still remain).

There isn't a limit to the number of times that you can take PZQ. In high-risk areas it is recommended that treatment is initiated and repeated from two years old. Praziquantel should also be taken once every 6 months if you use or go into contaminated or dirty water.

Re-infection can happen after taking the treatment, but the chance of developing severe disease is reduced, and can even be reversed when treatment is routinely taken from childhood.

Some drugs shouldn't be taken together. This is because when taken together, they work differently and can have a damaging or dangerous effect on the body.

Some interactions can make the effects of your medication stronger, which can give you bad side effects or toxicity - where the increased amount of a drug in your body can cause harm. Other interactions can reduce your medication's effectiveness, meaning that your dosage isn't high enough to keep you well.

Sometimes drugs can impact on other health conditions you have, so you should let your healthcare worker know if you are managing any other health issues, such as liver problems.

Tell your healthcare worker if you take other drugs, herbal remedies or have other health conditions so that they can understand how these might affect your treatment.

There is no vaccine to stop you getting FGS, although efforts are being made to find a way to vaccinate against it. Several schistosomiasis vaccines are now in clinical testing, but none are currently approved for use.