Chagas disease is part of the so-called “neglected diseases”, which mainly affects low-income populations.
They discover that this medicine kills the parasite trypanosoma cruzi
A drug given to patients with Alzheimer’s is able to cure the disease of Chagas, to the killing of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by the bite of the ” kissing bug ” as it is known in Mexico to insects triatominos.
This is reported by a study conducted by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil and published in the scientific journal Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Until now it has only been experimented with mice infected with Chagas, and after treating them with memantine, the amount of parasites was significantly reduced, and their survival rate increased.
Ariel M. Silber, coordinator of the study, explained that the next step is to verify if the data collected will allow a clinical trial to be carried out, to assess whether memantine has the same effect on humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the current number of people infected with the T. cruzi parasite is between six and seven million, particularly in Latin America.
Once in the body, the parasite causes inflammatory reactions that can compromise the functioning of tissues and organs.
The publication mentions that Chagas is part of the so-called “neglected diseases”, which mainly affects low-income populations, which is why the pharmaceutical industry has stopped investing in its research.
Currently, there are two medications to treat the disease, but if it is used for a long time to treat the chronic form of the disease, they cause serious side effects to the patient.
Silber said that most people give up therapy because of these side effects, hence the importance of having new medicines.
Source: notimex
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