title: Drugs and drug resistance in African trypanosomiasis.
abstract: Despite the many decades of use of most of the current trypanocides, we know little of their mode of action. This may in part be because most of these will act on multiple targets once inside the cell, and they derive their selective action on the parasite from selective accumulation by the pathogen. Loss of this capacity for drug uptake by the trypanosome would thus be a major cause for drug resistance. We here discuss the use of current drugs against human and veterinary African trypanosomiasis, the prevalence, causes and mechanisms of drug resistance and new developments in trypanosomiasis therapy such as the introduction of nifurtimox and DB289.
authors.affiliation: Trypanosomosis Unit, Department of Animal Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerpen, Nationalestraat 155, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Delespaux
authors.forename: Harry P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: de Koning
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000187:drug effects*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D014344:Trypanocidal Agents