The head lice drug ivermectin is being touted as a coronavirus killer. But studies suggest it would need to be taken in mega-doses far higher than those currently used, with unknown side-effects.
The head lice drug Ivermectin has stopped SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from replicating in lab tests. But we don't know if it will work as a treatment for people with coronavirus.
Some tropical diseases can be treated with very inexpensive daily treatments yet remain common.
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A cure for many tropical diseases was discovered 30 years ago this month. The drug is donated by its manufacturer. Why are we still dealing with neglected tropical diseases?
Children living in tropical countries and in poverty often have high rates of infection with the scabies mite.
UNICEF Ethiopia/flickr
Andrew Steer, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Although a drug of known safety and efficacy is available, scabies still affects more than 100 million people across the world.
Indonesian schoolchildren show off the mark indicating they’ve just taken anti-filariasis medication, a drug that prevents just one of the world’s ‘neglected’ diseases.
CDC Global
The 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine went to research on remedies derived from natural compounds. Academia is continuing the fight against 'neglected' diseases by similarly hunting for new drugs in nature.
Group Leader, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne. Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician, Royal Children's Hospital, Murdoch Children's Research Institute