Amongst all the parasitic NTDs, roundworm (Ascariasis) stands out in particular, primarily for how widespread it is. An estimated over 800 million people worldwide, about one-eighth the world’s population, are infected with roundworm, 200 million more than whipworm, the next most widespread NTD. On top of that, the people most at risk for contracting roundworm are children ages 3 to 5. Considering that roundworm causes malnutrition, anemia, and physical and mental underdevelopment in children, the burden of this parasite becomes painfully clear. There is a treatment for roundworm, albendazole, but the worm is beginning to show signs of resistance to it. Fortunately, a new paper published today indicates a possible new cure for roundworm.

This new cure is based off of crystal proteins created by the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bt has been used in agriculture for decades to kill insects and certain crops have been genetically modified with Bt to eliminate the need to use insecticide. However, their use as a medicine had gone largely untested, until couple of new studies show great promise that Bt could be an effective way to treat roundworm in humans.

The paper released today documents an experiment where mice were infected with roundworm and allowed to mature before the mice were treated with Bt. The effect was dramatic. Within just a few days there was a 98% decrease in parasite eggs in the mice’s feces and a 70% decrease in intestinal parasites.  This comes on the heels of a previous test where hamsters were infected with roundworm and treated with Bt. In that test the hamsters saw a 90% decrease in roundworm.

The most noteworthy quote came from Dr. Raffi Aroian from UC San Diego, the author of this paper. “Compared to the best drugs people have developed to treat human parasitic worms,” Dr Aroian said, “this natural protein is at least three times better.” Dr. Aroian also explained that since Bt is already grown in large quantities that currently treating one individual with Bt would cost 28 cents, a cost that would certainly go down with future optimization and development.

Just last week we highlighted a paper discussing the innovation gap that exists in the NTD field. Today’s paper shows that there are dedicated professionals currently working hard to bridge that gap.