Research

African sleeping sickness, river blindness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis are just a few examples of the 17 illnesses classified as neglected tropical diseases. This subset of orphan diseases is believed to affect over one billion people worldwide while causing over 500,000 deaths a year, primarily in the poorest of countries. They are largely responsible for the high morbidity and mortality rates of these at risk populations. Even though many of these diseases are treatable and preventable, they are commonly neglected since there is little financial incentive to develop treatments for illnesses that occur prevalently in third world countries. Despite existing treatment for most neglected tropical diseases, new research in the field is necessary to mitigate the limited drug options available. It is this limited range of drug options that is leading to increasing drug resistances to current therapeutic methods as well as the continued use of highly toxic drug regimens.