Drug trial offers hope in treating disabling fungal disease
Results from the world’s first double-blind clinical trial to find a treatment for fungal mycetoma, a chronic disabling disease, have shown that a new oral treatment, fosravoconazole, is safe, patient-friendly and effective.
Mycetoma, also known as Madura Foot or Nabat in Arabic, is one of the world’s most neglected diseases.
The drug was tested in Sudan which, along with Mexico, reports some of the highest number of cases globally.
Mycetoma is caused by a fungus. Infection begins most often in the foot, after a cut allows the fungus to enter from the soil or animal dung.
It infects people who often walk barefoot.
The disease eats away at the flesh and is very difficult to treat.
If caught early enough there is a drug that can already be used but a patient has to take up to four pills a day for an entire year.
Too often, amputation to treat the infected foot is the only option.
According to trial results, the fosravoconazole treatment is cheaper and has fewer side effects than the current drug. Plus a patient will only need to take two pills a week.
The next step is for the drug to be registered for general use in Sudan. But the war is having devastating consequences and patients do not have access to the treatments they desperately need.
By BBC
