AFP, 06/13/2012
BRASILIA — Brazilian researchers say they have successfully tested a vaccine against schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide.
“This is an unprecedented breakthrough in medicine that involved 30 years of scientific work,” Dr Tania Araujo-Jorge, of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, said Tuesday. The institute receives public and private funding.
“We are confident that within three years Brazil will be able to distribute the first vaccine against parasites, and help combat schistosomiasis, a disease that strikes the poorest because it is spread by unsanitary conditions.”
