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In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 66 million people suffer from a sleeping sickness called Trypanosomiasis. Although there is a known cause, this disease is difficult to treat because the affecting parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, is immune to most antibiotics and therefore remarkably resourceful in evading the immune system.
While the early stages of the disease are treatable by effective drugs, the standard treatment for the later stages is a derivative of arsenic — that's right, arsenic — with horrific side effects. Arsenic has become the standard, not because it's good, but because it is just about the only treatment known. Clearly we need something better. Picture courtesy of Center for Disease Control Parasite Image Library |