River Blindness Cure in Cattle Drug


Researchers believe they have found that a drug used in cattle to kill worms could in fact be used in the devastating eye disease, river blindness. 37 million people across the world are thought to be suffering from this debilitating disease that occurs when the sufferer is bitten by a particular fly. With people using the diseases current treatment drug Ivermectin showing signs of resistance, it is clear that another drug is now needed.

The research has been conducted at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and the results appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Thus, the researchers have found the veterinary drug, Closantel, could target the parasites at a much earlier stage than previous treatments. River blindness occurs when someone is bitten by a fly carrying what is called Onchocerca Volvulus. This is a type of worm that is left to mate and mature and can produce a staggering 1000 offspring a day. Problems occur when the worms die as they cause itchy lesions and when these are in the eye they can lead to blindness. The current treatment targets the offspring produced and kills them but only reduces fertility within the older worms; hence the need for a more affective treatment that targets the parasites right from the start.

Having screened 1,500 drugs, the veterinary drug came out on top which perhaps has something to do with its previous role in killing liver parasites in cattle. The team cultured solutions containing the parasite which were then given various administrations of the drug over a 6 day period. The results showed that compared to the control group who had 60% of the worms reproducing only 1.4% of them had. Thus, if the drug is found safe to administer within humans it could provide an effective treatment in preventing the infection from starting in the first place.

11th February 2010

<<<previous page


Laser Eye Surgery Enquiry Form

Complete this form if you would like information about laser eye surgery including costs & suitablity.