New drugs for an ancient parasite

Only one drug is widely used to treat schistosomiasis, a chronic, neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic blood flukes. Fears of potential drug resistance have accelerated the search for new classes of antischistosome drugs. A promising candidate has now emerged (pages 407-412).
Schistosomiasis, caused by blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma (Fig. 1), has afflicted humans for thousands of years and is arguably the most important human helminth infection. Schistosomes infect more [...]