Dundee/York - Shaking the disease

A team of scientists has made a breakthrough in identifying new treatments for a parasitic disease that kills tens of thousands of Africans each year. Researchers at the University of York and the University of Dundee have been looking at human African trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness. They have developed compounds that kill the parasites without their hosts suffering debilitating side effects by focusing on orally administered, low-toxicity drugs. Paul Wyatt, director of the drug discovery for tropical diseases initiative at Dundee, said the findings were among the "most significant in recent years in terms of drug discovery and development for neglected diseases".