Researchers report the development of a first-in-class candidate drug against Wolbachia, a bacterial endosymbiont essential to the survival of parasitic worms responsible for river blindness and elephantiasis, potentially yielding a safe oral treatment for such worm infections in 7 days, compared with 4-6 weeks for existing anti-Wolbachia therapies, partly due to superior efficacy and favorable drug properties.
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Article #18-16585: "AWZ1066S, a highly specific anti-Wolbachia drug candidate for a short-course treatment of filariasis," by W. David Hong et al .
MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Ward, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-151-705-3286; e-mail: steve.ward@lstmed.ac.uk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences