African Sleeping Sickness News and Research

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African trypanosomiasis is also known as sleeping sickness. There are two types of African trypanosomiasis, East and West, named for the region of Africa in which they were historically found. People can get the disease if they are bitten by an infected tsetse fly, which is only found in Africa. Treatment is available for African trypanosomiasis, but it is fatal if left untreated.

Researchers aim to protect humans, mammals from deadly effects of African sleeping sickness

A team of Clemson University researchers wants to protect humans and other mammals from the debilitating and even deadly effects of African sleeping sickness.

21 Nov 2018

Beat Childhood Cancer consortium's clinical trial offers new hope to children in Canada

Children in Canada who are battling neuroblastoma, a form of cancer, have been granted new hope toward a better prognosis and long-term survival.

8 Aug 2018

Researchers discover new weakness in sleeping sickness parasites

Trypanosomes are single-celled parasites that cause diseases such as human African sleeping sickness and Nagana in animals. But they are also used in basic research as a model system to study fundamental biological questions.

21 Feb 2018

Researchers discover unknown enzyme in pathogens responsible for African sleeping sickness

The life-threatening African trypanosomiasis, also called sleeping sickness, is caused by protozoa of the species Trypanosoma brucei. A team at the Biocentre of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, studies the pathogens and has now reported exciting news: The trypanosomes have a so far unknown enzyme which does not exist in humans and other vertebrates. This makes it a promising target for therapy.

22 Jun 2017

Clinical study tests 100-year-old drug in children with autism spectrum disorder

In a small, randomized Phase I/II clinical trial (SAT1), researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say a 100-year-old drug called suramin, originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, was safely administered to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who subsequently displayed measurable, but transient, improvement in core symptoms of autism.

26 May 2017

Blood-sucking flies can act as 'flying syringes' to track emergence of new diseases

Blood-sucking flies can act as 'flying syringes' to detect emerging infectious diseases in wild animals before they spread to humans, according to research published in the journal eLife.

28 Mar 2017

Highly prevalent gene variants in African Americans contribute to kidney disease

African Americans have a heightened risk of developing chronic and end-stage kidney disease. This association has been attributed to two common genetic variants - named G1 and G2 -- in APOL1, a gene that codes for a human-specific protein.

1 Mar 2017

Scientists uncover novel process by which APOL1 gene contributes to renal disease

A Children's National Health System research team has uncovered a novel process by which the gene APOL1 contributes to renal disease, according to a paper published November 18 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

18 Nov 2016

Research findings of protein may form foundation for new approach to antibiotics

Researchers have made the first-ever detailed, atomic-level images of a peroxiredoxin, which has revealed a peculiar characteristic of this protein and might form the foundation for a new approach to antibiotics.

1 Sep 2016

African sleeping sickness parasite has defence mechanism against potential pharmaceuticals

Researchers from Umea University in Sweden have discovered that the single-celled parasite causing African sleeping sickness has a defence mechanism against potential pharmaceuticals under development against the disease. The deadly parasite has an enzyme that can cleave and hence disarm adenosine analogue pharmaceuticals. This according to a study recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

18 Apr 2016

UGA study helps solve mystery of how African trypanosomes communicate

While scientists have known for years that African trypanosomes cause sleeping sickness, they've been left scratching their heads as to how these tiny single-celled organisms communicate. A University of Georgia study, published Jan. 14 in the journal Cell, helps solve this mystery.

18 Jan 2016

Sohn Conference Foundation awards $50,000 grant to support cutting-edge pediatric clinical trial in New York

The Sohn Conference Foundation today announced a $50,000 grant to support funding of a Phase 2 cutting-edge pediatric clinical trial from the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) now extending to New York City.

6 Jan 2016

DNDi unveils plans to better respond to the needs of neglected patients

After having built the world's largest drug development pipeline for the most neglected diseases, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has unveiled plans for a more flexible, dynamic portfolio approach, integrating various operating models to better respond to the needs of patients, notably in low- and middle-income countries. The plan also paves the way for new diseases to be taken up in DNDi's portfolio.

9 Sep 2015

Study of genetic risk factors of IBD in African-Americans published in Gastroenterology journal

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with colleagues at Emory University and Cedars-Sinai, have published in the journal Gastroenterology the first major, in-depth analysis of genetic risk factors of inflammatory bowel disease in African-Americans.

26 Aug 2015

UC San Diego researchers launch clinical trial to evaluate safety, efficacy of suramin drug for autism

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have launched a clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of an unprecedented drug therapy for autism.

11 Jun 2015

Papers on antibiotic resistance, neglected diseases and future of the ocean to be discussed during G7 summit

Today the national science academies of the G7 countries handed three statements to their respective heads of government for discussion during the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in early June 2015. The papers on antibiotic resistance, neglected and poverty-related diseases, and the future of the ocean were drawn up by the seven national academies under the aegis of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

30 Apr 2015

Penn, UGA scientists awarded new contract to develop genome database for microbial pathogens

At the turn of the millennium, the cost to sequence a single human genome exceeded $50 million, and the process took a decade to complete. Microbes have genomes, too, and the first reference genome for a malaria parasite was completed in 2002 at a cost of roughly $15 million. But today researchers can sequence a genome in a single afternoon for just a few thousand dollars. Related technologies make it possible to capture information about all genes in the genome, in all tissues, from multiple individuals.

18 Dec 2014

Bayer, DNDi sign first agreement to develop new oral treatment for onchocerciasis

Bayer HealthCare and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have signed an agreement under which Bayer will provide the active ingredient emodepside to support DNDi in its effort to develop a new oral drug to treat river blindness (or onchocerciasis). The world's second leading infectious cause of blindness, river blindness is a neglected tropical disease caused by a filarial worm.

10 Dec 2014

Researchers identify compounds that could lead to discovery of new drugs for African sleeping sickness

In early drug discovery, you need a starting point, says Northeastern University associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology Michael Pollastri.

27 Oct 2014

Single dose restores normal cellular signaling in mouse model of autism

In a further test of a novel theory that suggests autism is the consequence of abnormal cell communication, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that an almost century-old drug approved for treating sleeping sickness also restores normal cellular signaling in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the neurological disorder in animals that were the human biological age equivalent of 30 years old.

18 Jun 2014