Parasitic diseases

Mefloquine should be last resort for military personnel, MP committee says

The antimalarial treatment mefloquine (Lariam) should be considered a “drug of last resort” when used by UK military personnel because of its potential to cause severe psychological side effects, according to an influential committee of MPs.…

Resistance to antimalarial atovaquone does not spread

Atovaquone could be used more widely to treat malaria since resistance does not spread to subsequent generations of the malaria parasite.…

Anti-malarial drug mefloquine can be taken by pregnant women

Researchers find no differences between infants exposed to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine or mefloquine with regards to morbidity and mortality.…

Malaria resistant to both artemisinin and piperaquine identified in Cambodia

Malaria that is resistant to both drugs contained in the combination dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine has been identified in patients in Cambodia for the first time, study reports.…

Malaria vaccine inefficiency explained by researchers

Genetic variation in the parasite that causes malaria may explain why a vaccine developed against the disease has only moderate efficacy.…

Leishmania antigen discovery raises vaccine hopes

Vaccination with an antigen from the Leishmania parasite, which is spread by sandflies, produced a robust immune response in mice and humans.…

Synthetic biology: microbes made to manufacture drugs

From flu vaccines to a mission to Mars, scientists are engineering biological systems to meet the medical needs of the 21st century.…

Helminth infections: diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosis and selection of appropriate drug treatments for common helminth infections.…

Nobel prize shared by scientists for parasitic disease drug discoveries

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been split two ways and shared by three scientists for developing therapies for the treatment of parasitic disease.…

Video microscope to avert life-threatening serious adverse drug reaction

A new smartphone-based microscope can help to identify the presence of one species of parasitic worm when a patient is being treated for another, to help prevent drug complications.…