New trends in chemotherapy on human and animal blood parasites

Abstract

Blood-parasite protozoa are causative agents of some of the major tropical or infectious diseases for humans and animals, such as Plasmodium for malaria (about 270 million infected people), Trypanosoma cruzi for Chagas' disease (about 18-20 million individuals), African trypanosomes for human and bovine trypanosomiasis, and Babesia for cattle and dogs. The absence of efficient vaccines against these diseases, the absence or the high toxicity of the few drugs against American and African trypanosomiasis, and the emergence of chemoresistance against Plasmodium falciparum emphasize the necessity to propose new antiparasitic strategies. Among these strategies, the biological strategy is based on the identification of key molecules for parasite development such that structural analogs can be designed that are parasite-specific or sufficiently inactive for the host. This requires a careful biochemical analysis of each step of the parasite life cycle. For blood-parasite protozoa, the lipid metabolism required for membrane biogenesis, antimicrotubular drugs or inhibitors of the mitotic spindle, and drug targeting offer new trends in chemotherapy against Plasmodium, Babesia, and trypanosomes.

<i>In vivo</i> antitrypanosomal evaluation of some medicinal plant extracts from Ogun state, Nigeria

“…Trypanosome infections are known to cause immunosuppression responsible for the host's inability to eliminate the trypanosomes even after administration of trypanocidal drugs (Godwin et al, 1972;Osma et al, 1992) Diminazene aceturate and isomethamidium chloride are the most currently used trypanocides, used both for prophylactics and curative purposes for the control of the disease in cattle (WHO, 1995). Unfortunately the parasite have developed resistance to these drugs (Schrevel et al, 1996;Anene et al, 2000;Geerts et al, 2001) which makes the search for efficacious chemotherapeutic agents from locally available ethnomedicinal plants for use as trypanocidal agents necessary.…”

Antimicrobial therapy of persistent Anaplasma marginale infections

“…The need for additional trials to study whether enrofloxacin is useful to control severe anaplasmosis infections has been identified . Schrevel et al (1996) recently reviewed new trends in chemotherapy of human and animal blood parasites. These workers highlight a recent study that demonstrated activity of the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, Lovastatin and Simvastatin against in vitro cultured Plasmodium falciparum and B. divergens (Grellier et al, 1994).…”

“…In addition to these agents, Schrevel et al (1996) describe studies examining the effect of microtubular drugs, paclitaxel (Taxol) and its analog, docetaxel (Taxotere), on P.…”