PARASITES are never sexy, but as diseases go, schistosomiasis, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, and hookworm are particularly untrendy. So much so, that we are missing a golden opportunity to eradicate them, say US and UK scientists led by David Molyneux at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Ten parasitic diseases kill half a million people a year, imposing a burden on the poorest people to rival even the three biggest killers, AIDS, TB and malaria. Yet, unlike them, all can be controlled, and even eradicated, with just four cheap drugs (PLoS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020336).
The researchers say just 40 cents…
