ABSTRACT
Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) remains a major health problem in a large portion of central Africa (Bulletin of the WHO, 1986). Until the last decade, no new drugs had been introduced for the treatment of this disease in over 40 years (Sjoerdsma and Schechter, 1984). While the old drugs, including Suramin, pentamidine and melarsoprol, remain remarkably effective in most cases of sleeping sickness, the toxic side-effects of these agents often limit their use (Apted, 1980). Indeed, treatment with melarsoprol, the only drug effective in the treatment of latestage trypanosomiasis involving the central nervous system, results in 5-10 per cent mortality due to untoward reactions (Haller et al., 1986). Furthermore, as resistance of the organisms to the drug has risen in recent years (Ruppol and Burke, 1977; Ginoux et al., 1984), new, safer chemotherapies are sorely needed.
