Insects can spread tropical diseases.
(Mirror Daily, United States) Scientists’ endeavor has now rewarding results: they seem to have found a cure for tropical diseases. The special ingredient fights against three types of parasites: GNF6702 might be the miraculous element we have been waiting for so that people around the world be able to live normal, healthy lives.
Researchers discovered that GNF6702 could be the best cure for tropical diseases, as it fights and kills parasites which cause sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis. These three diseases can be contracted in poor regions, in countries of The Third World (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania).
The medicine has only been tested on lab animals and researchers are looking forward to it showing its effectiveness on humans, too. This could turn out to be a massive discovery since about half million people die each year because of tropical diseases.
The existing treatments for sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis are often expensive and don’t always work. Scientists hope to produce a new medicine that will become the ultimate cure for tropical diseases.
Leader of the study, Frantisek Supek, comments on the results and talks about what he and his team will do next:
“We found that these parasites harbour a common weakness. We hope to exploit this weakness to discover and develop a single class of drugs for all three diseases.”
Another good news about the revolutionary ingredient GNF6702 is that there are no signs of side effects on mice. This is a promising premise, and scientists hope to obtain good results with further tests too. Alternative treatments for these diseases led to side effects several times, so the need for a new medicine, an improved one, is pressing.
Doctor Elmarie Myburgh (University of York) is confident about the success of this new cure for tropical diseases:
“What makes it special is the fact it is targeting all three parasites. That’s the first time it has been done, so it is quite special”.
The symptoms of the sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis are often fever, rashes, skin ulcers, headaches, joint pains, swollen lymph nodes – and these are only the early phases of the diseases. They may lead to heart failure and death, especially if not treated on due time.
Image courtesy of: Wikipedia