“Cryptosporidium parvum”, a typical protozoa-infection that causes acute, watery, and non-bloody diarrhea in small children in developing countries and immune-compromised patients is becoming a concern for scientists the world over. This infection may also cause anorexia related watery diarrhea in HIV infection. Such an infection will result in to nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
Resistivity property of these protozoa to the water chlorination has caused massive epidemic in the United States. Scientists have also expressed that it has attained a status of a ‘prospective bio-terrorism agent’. There are neither vaccines nor effective drugs available to respond to these multiple threats to human health.
A major breakthrough has been achieved as scientists at the ‘Brandeis University’ and the ‘University of Georgia’ has been successful in identifying the lead compounds that can resist the attacks of this protozoa. In the published details of this research in the journal “Chemistry and Biology”, the scientists hope that their findings will pave the way for further development of an effective antibiotic treatment.
