Cheap amoebic dysentery drug 'promising' (BBC)
By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News
A cheap drug, which is already prescribed for arthritis, could fight amoebic dysentery, according to researchers in the US.
They were testing old drugs to see if any killed the dysentery bug.
Tests on animals, published in Nature Medicine, showed that auranofin was 10 times more effective than the best drug currently available.
Further studies will be needed in humans, but researchers say it holds great promise.
Amoebic dysentery is caused by Entamoeba histolytica, which infects the bowels. It results in severe diarrhoea including bloody stools. More than 70,000 people are thought to die from the disease each year - most are in developing countries.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18117605
free abstract, $$$ for full article: http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.2758.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auranofin gives a reference to a study investigating anti-HIV activity as well
