Sleeping sickness drugs demystified

摘要

Sleeping sickness is a formidable foe, killing thousands in Africa every year. There are only five drugs to combat the parasite that causes the disease, and they can have severe side effects. Worse, the parasite is becoming resistant. "If we knew how the drugs work, we could perhaps design better ones," says David Horn of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. To investigate, Horn's lab generated RNA molecules which inactivated certain parasite genes.