City scientists close to cure for disease

Published on Tuesday 28 April 2009 10:33

SCIENTISTS in Edinburgh have said they are close to finding a way to prevent sleeping sickness, a deadly disease which affects tens of thousands of people every year.

Experts from Edinburgh and Liverpool universities say they have uncovered key information about the disease which could help prevent it.

The disease is spread by the tsetse fly in Africa, and is caused by a parasite which attacks the central nervous system.

World Health Organisation figures estimate there are between 50,000 to 70,000 cases of the disease every year. The new findings centre on the way the parasite manages to survive inside the stomach of tsetse flie.

Dr Pegine Walrad, of Edinburgh University's school of biological sciences, said: "Our findings provide a key to understanding how the parasite controls its protective protein coats in order to survive."