Better sleeping sickness treatment in the offing
April 17th, 2011 - 4:20 pm ICT by IANSLondon, April 17 (IANS) A breakthrough could pave the way for a safer and more effective treatment for millions in developing countries who suffer from African sleeping sickness, leading to 60,000 deaths annually.
The sickness is caused by trypanosome parasites and general symptoms include fever, headache, insomnia and swollen lymph nodes all over the body. It is endemic in some regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
The study, conducted by researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, investigated how the drug nifurtimox works to kill off trypanosome, the Journal of Biological Chemistry reports.
Study co-author Shane Wilkinson said: “Hopefully, our research will lead to the development of anti-parasitic medicines which have fewer side effects than nifurtimox and are more effective.”
Nifurtimox has been used for more than 40 years to treat Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) and has recently been recommended for use as part of a treatment for African sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis).
Wilkinson and his colleagues Belinda Hall and Christopher Bot from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences focused their research on the characterisation of the breakdown product from nifurtimox.
“Understanding how nifurtimox kills trypanosomes may generate new and safer compounds,” Wilkinson said.
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