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Exposure to infections in early childhood can protect child from eczema later in life: Study

Exposure to worm infections in the womb may protect a newborn infant from developing eczema, a study funded by the Wellcome Trust suggests. A large trial in Uganda showed that treating a pregnant woman for worm infections increased her child's chances of developing the allergic skin disease.

29 Jan 2011

ITM scientists to combat tapeworm infection using drugs

The Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp increases its fight in Congo against the pork tapeworm, in spite of its name also a human parasite, causing epilepsy.

14 Jan 2011

Miller-Mccune examines impact of limited access to schistosomiasis drug in Africa

Miller-McCune examines the limited access populations living in Africa have to the schistosomiasis drug praziquantel the only commercially available treatment for the disease.

6 Oct 2010

IBM announces computing projects to produce clean, safe water

IBM's World Community Grid, a worldwide network of PC owners helping scientists solve humanitarian challenges, today announced several computing projects aimed at developing techniques to produce cleaner and safer water, an increasingly scarce commodity eluding at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.

7 Sep 2010

Study finds evidence that single-disease initiatives may compromise fragile health systems in low-income countries

Single-disease initiatives in low-income countries with fragile health systems may compromise the ability of such health systems to meet the other community needs, according to a study published Tuesday in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, VaccineNewsDaily.com reports (Purlain, 8/18).

20 Aug 2010

Physicians diagnose rare parasitic infection in people who consumed raw crayfish

If you're headed to a freshwater stream this summer and a friend dares you to eat a raw crayfish - don't do it. You could end up in the hospital with a severe parasitic infection.

27 May 2010

Genome sequencing of schistosomiasis parasites could promote drug development

Researchers have sequenced the genomes of two parasites that cause bilharzia or schistosomiasis - a disease transmitted by water-borne snails that affects more than 200 million people worldwide - "revealing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by drug developers," Nature reports (Smith, 7/15).

16 Jul 2009

Economist examines schistosomiasis in China

The Economist examines schistosomiasis in China. The disease, which is also called snail-fever, is the "world’s second-most prevalent tropical disease after malaria, affecting 207 million people of whom 726,000 are Chinese, according to the most recent official figures, from 2004," the Economist reports.

21 Jun 2009

De-worming drug praziquantel could help reduce spread of HIV in Africa

Providing girls in rural Africa with a deworming drug could help reduce the spread of HIV, according to a study recently published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the New York Times reports.

26 May 2009

Metrifonate and praziquantel for urinary schistosomiasis

In 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) stopped recommending metrifonate for treating urinary schistosomiasis because the drug did not appear to be as effective as the treatment of choice, praziquantel.

16 Jul 2008

Scientists identify potential therapy targets for schistosomiasis

A research team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has identified chemical compounds that hold promise as potential therapies for schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide.

18 Mar 2008

Discovery of chemical compounds that hold promise as potential therapies for schistosomiasis

17 Mar 2008

Study paves way for mass co-delivery of three antiparasitic drugs

Findings from a new study in Zanzibar, published January 23 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, pave the way for the World Health Organization (WHO) to recommend the mass co-delivery of three anti-parasitic drugs for the first time.

24 Jan 2008

Tropical diseases such as sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis, river blindness, hookworm, elephantiasis, and blinding trachoma are being ignored

"The big three" infections AIDS, TB and malaria have caught the world's attention but other disabling and fatal infectious diseases in Africa are being ignored, say three eminent tropical disease researchers in the international health journal PLoS Medicine.

11 Oct 2005

Ten million Africans treated by international disease treatment

A disease treatment programme started three years ago by Imperial College London has now treated over ten million African children and adults for schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections in six sub-Saharan countries.

6 Jul 2005