New worm drug 'can help millions'

2010-03-08
Newsfeed

A bacterial protein commonly used as a crop pesticide can help tackle crippling intestinal parasites that affect millions of people across the world, most of them below the poverty line, scientists have said.

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A bacterial protein commonly used as a crop pesticide can help tackle crippling intestinal parasites that affect millions of people across the world, most of them below the poverty line, scientists have said.

Nematode worms that inhabit human intestines are not fatal, but they cause anaemia and impede physical and mental development.

According to George Washington University's tropical diseases expert Peter Hotez, more than a billion people worldwide are "trapped" in poverty because of health problems due to such infections.

A team led by Raffi Aroian at the University of California, San Diego, has now demonstrated that Cry5B, a protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis, may be effective in destroying the nematodes. It's a molecule used by farmers as a pesticide and is known to be safe.

Experiments on infected mice showed that an oral dose of the drug removed 70% of the worms from the intestine.

But most of the protein usually gets broken down in the stomach, and the challenge is to get higher doses into the intestine.

The researchers have now teamed up with California-based SRI International to create coatings that can keep the drug safe from stomach acids.

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