A new pill developed to treat intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate the parasitic infection, which affects about 1.5 billion people worldwide, researchers say. affects
The mango-flavored pill is a combination of two existing anti-parasitic drugs that appear to be more effective in getting rid of the worms when used together.
These worms are caught through contact with food or water that has been contaminated with soil contaminated with the eggs of the worms, and the infection causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition and anemia.
Researchers say the pill could help overcome drug resistance problems in the future and better manage the disease at large.
Parasites, also known as soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), include whipworm and hookworm and are endemic in many developing countries with poor sanitation.
Many of those affected are children and there is no preventative treatment other than better sanitation.
According to a study, called “ALIVE”.The new pill, published in the Lancet, could help reach the targets set by the most affected countries. World Health Organization To eliminate diseases.
It will be taken as a fixed dose of one tablet or three tablets on consecutive days.
Researchers from eight European and African institutions say it would be an easy way to cure large numbers of people in large-scale treatment programs.
“It’s easy to administer, because it’s a single pill,” says project leader Professor Jose Muse.
“In addition, we hope that combining two drugs with different mechanisms of action will reduce the risk of parasites becoming drug-resistant,” says Professor Muñoz.
Once a person is infected, the parasites root themselves in the person’s digestive system.
Although the drug albendazole is effective in treating some species of STH, it appears to be less effective in others.
In a clinical trial of 1,001 children aged 5-18 years in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, it was found to be more effective on more types of infections when combined with the drug ivermectin.
However, the researchers said the results were not conclusive about how well it treated the threadworm.
Professor Hani Elsheikha, a parasitologist at the University of Nottingham, said the pill could be a “significant improvement over other treatments” and could be used against a range of parasites.
“There are some challenges with existing drugs … so this could be a big, big boost.”
However, he said that while the study was “promising”, it had “some gaps”.
“We don’t know if the results will be the same for adults, young adults, young children, people in other parts of the world.”
The results of the trial have been submitted to regulators in Europe and Africa, with decisions expected in early 2025.
Participants are now being recruited to take part in a further trial of 20,000 people in Kenya and Ghana.
Dr Stella Kifa, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute who worked on the study, said the pill had “huge potential to improve the health of affected communities” but that the treatment was yet to be widely rolled out. Also “work remains to be done”.