ANTIPARASITIC COMPOUNDS

Parasites are the causal agents of a number of serious human diseases, such as Chagas’ disease (caused by Trypanosoma cruzi) and leishmaniasis (caused by Leishmania spp.) which infect millions of people each year. Due to the impact of these parasites on public health and the inadequacy of current treatments there is an urgent requirement for more effective drugs, since those in use are highly toxic and are ineffective in the chronic phase of the disease. Moreover, the problem is compounded by rise in drug resistance, especially for leishmaniasis. Researchers from University of Valencia and University of Granada have demonstrated the use of scorpiand-type azamacrocycle compounds for the treatment of parasitic diseases, specifically for Chagas’ disease and leishmaniasis, in vitro and as well in vivo, in mice. The synthesised compounds are structurally different from drugs in use, are ten times less toxic and show activity against both, the acute and chronic phases of the infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania spp.