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Researchers of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) developed a drug to fight Chagas disease , which causes the deterioration of human organs due to the bite of infected insects.
The Biomedical Research Institute (IIBm) , in collaboration with the Physic Sciences Institute (ICF) , developed this product thanks to the use of the “in vitro” method. The formula was created through the derivative of a commercial drug and is already patent pending.
The drugs used in the fight against Chagas disease are benznidazole and nifurtimox , the only ones with effective results so far. They are used in high doses which produce secondary effects in patients, who abandon the treatment since its effectiveness is only perceptible only in the critical phase.
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The A21 drug developed by the UNAM, obtained from another commercial drug and modified by Iván Ortega Blake , causes the destruction of the parasite . “The patent has already been requested so we can move on with the commercialization phase,” said the UNAM in a statement.
“Along with the Chemistry Institute (IQ) , we studied a higher number of drugs and we have more candidates in the laboratory; we are still on trials to obtain more effective drugs against T. cruzi ,” said the researcher.
Caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi , the disease that has spread in the last decades through America , Europe , and the Pacific infecting between 8 and 10 million people throughout the world.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO ), the disease is mainly contracted through contact with feces or urine of infected insects who feed on blood. They often do so by night by biting exposed skin and defecating near the area.
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Researcher Josefina Espinoza Gutiérrez
explained that this health problem mainly affects the skeletal muscle, and the digestive tract; moreover, it is divided into two phases: acute and chronic .
On the other hand, the IIBm expert asserts that there are infected individuals that do not develop the disease: “It is calculated that between 30% and 40% of infected people will develop the disease, for which there is no vaccination nor sufficiently effective treatment, so a percentage of those infected are expected to die after several years.”
The expert explained that the diagnosis is done through an antigen testing , a substance that causes the creation of antibodies and immune response in the patient.
The research team discovered that from 15 to 62 studied cases, the disease runs in the famiy which means that other members of the family are seropositive or carriers of the parasite.
“This result suggests that an ‘index’ case can have others surrounding it since they inhabit the same places, grow up in the same places and they are probably in contact with the vectors,” added the UNAM expert .
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The Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) testing is the one used by the UNAM experts: “Our first line of investigation consisted in developing a sensible and specific diagnostic test to detect antibodies against the parasite,” said the researcher.
Therefore, they perform free diagnosis and receive samples from all over the country. “They are available and we perform them independently from the pharmaceutical companies” confirmed the academic.
In the “ family Chagas ” research, they analyzed blood donors from the “La Raza” National Medical Center , one of the places where the IIBm diagnosed the co-relation of the population from Veracruz. “We think that the infections took place where the family lived during their childhood, in endemic areas of the disease,” mentioned Espinoza Gutiérrez.
The UNAM informed that the World Chagas Disease Day will be celebrated for the first time on April 14 in an attempt to create awareness on the disease and the patients who have it.
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