Those being treated for retinal neurocysticercosis can face retinal damage if they are not first checked for ocular cysticeri, since changes to existing lesions in the eye by albendazole can cause permanent blindness. Overdose
Because of its low solubility, albendazole often cannot be absorbed in high enough quantities to be toxic. The oral LD50 of albendazole in rats was found to be 2,500 mg/kg. It takes 20 times the normal dose to kill a sheep, and 30 times the normal dose to kill cattle. Overdose affects the liver, testicles, and GI tract the most. It can manifest with lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal cramps, dizziness, convulsions, and sleepiness. There is no specified antidote. Interactions
The antiepileptics carbamazepine, phenytoin, and phenobarbital lower the plasma concentration and the half life of albendazole sulfoxides R(+) enantiomer. The antacid cimetidine heightens serum albendazole concentrations, increases the half life of albendazole, and doubles albendazole sulfoxide levels in bile. It was originally thought to work by increasing albendazole bioavailability directly; however, it is now known that cimetidine inhibits the breakdown of albendazole sulfoxide by interfering with CYP3A4. The half-life of albendazole sulfoxide thus increases from 7.4 hours to 19 hours. This might be a helpful interaction on more severe cases, because it boosts the potency of albendazole. Paradoxically, cimetidine also inhibits the absorption of albendazole by reducing gastric acidity.Several other interactions exist. Corticosteroids increase the steady-state plasma concentration of albendazole sulfoxide; dexamethasone, for example, can increase the concentration by 56% by inhibiting the elimination of albendazole sulfoxide.
The 1996 Pulitzer-prize-winning photographs of a 16-year-old Kenyan girl experiencing FGM were published by 12 American newspapers, without her consent either to be photographed or to have the images published.The debate has highlighted a tension between anthropology and feminism, with the formers focus on tolerance and the latters on equal rights for women. According to the anthropologist Christine Walley, a common position in anti-FGM literature has been to present African women as victims of false consciousness participating in their own oppression, a position promoted by feminists in the 1970s and 1980s, including Fran Hosken, Mary Daly and Hanny Lightfoot-Klein. It prompted the French Association of Anthropologists to issue a statement in 1981, at the height of the early debates, that "a certain feminism resuscitates (today) the moralistic arrogance of yesterdays colonialism". Comparison with other procedures
Cosmetic procedures
Nnaemeka argues that the crucial question, broader than FGM, is why the female body is subjected to so much "abuse and indignity", including in the West. Several authors have drawn a parallel between FGM and cosmetic procedures. Ronán Conroy of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland wrote in 2006 that cosmetic genital procedures were "driving the advance" of FGM by encouraging women to see natural variations as defects. Anthropologist Fadwa El Guindi compared FGM to breast enhancement, in which the maternal function of the breast becomes secondary to mens sexual pleasure. Benoîte Groult, the French feminist, made a similar point in 1975, citing FGM and cosmetic surgery as sexist and patriarchal.