Progress in the drug treatment of tropical diseases

Abstract

Protozoal and helminthic infections have always represented a major threat to the health of millions of people in the tropics and subtropics. With increasing international travel, many tropical diseases have gained importance in the developed world. Furthermore, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has encouraged the emergence of many opportunistic protozoal and helminthic infections throughout the world. The protozoal infections, malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis, present major difficulties in treatment, either due to decreasing efficacy of currently available drugs or their high toxicity. There is a need for novel antiprotozoal drugs with either (though ideally both) improved efficacy to combat drug resistance, such as antimalarials, or increased tolerability, such as drugs against trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis. Although currently available anthelminthic drugs are very potent against most human helminthic infections, there are still some infections for which effective treatment and control will require the development of new anthelminthics, e.g., filariasis and schistosomiasis.