Travel and migration make for a small world and big problems. Cysticercosis has become an increasingly widespread health hazard. Del Brutto1 marshals the cumulative evidence of several studies to support the effectiveness of therapy with praziquantel and albendazole. Kramer2 maintains that no well-controlled trials have been performed to evaluate properly any of the current therapies. She further warns against the fate that overtook Arrowsmith in Lewis Sinclair's eponymous novel. Dr Martin Arrowsmith went to a West Indian island to test the effectiveness of "phags" on victims of a plague epidemic. His intention had been to give the "phags" only to selected cases, testing the outcome against noninoculated patients. After his wife died of the plague, his resolve collapsed and he inoculated everyone. After the plague subsided, it became impossible to tell whether it ran its natural course or was stopped by Dr Arrowsmith's serum.
The evidence that Del