Breakthrough in fever fight

Published on 02/10/2012 12:00

CITY scientists have made a discovery that could help treat a tropical infection that affects millions of people each year.

A team from Edinburgh University joined forces with the National Institute for Health in the US to create a medicine that targets the parasite responsible for leishmaniasis.

It causes a range of illnesses, including black fever, which kills around 50,000 people each year, mostly in India.

Professor Malcolm Walkinshaw said: “This could be used in developing a new class of drug against this dangerous and disfiguring disease.”