Essencial oil-based nanomedicines against trypanosomatides

MORILLA, MARIA JOSE; ROMERO, EDER LILIA

Essencial oil-based and Nanotechnology for treatment of microbial diseases

CRC Press

Año: 2017; p. 258 - 278

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are defined as diseases suffering from a lack of attention by the public health community. The NTDs are associated with poverty and neglected by media and policy makers, affecting more than one billion people?one-sixth of the world?s population-mostly in rural areas of low-income countries (WHO. Neglected diseases). In the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, the NTDs are among the most common conditions afflicting the estimated 99 million people, who live on less than US$2 per day (Hotez et al. 2012), the burden of disease closely approximating or even exceeding that resulting from HIV/AIDS (Hotez et al. 2008). The lost ability to attend school or work, retardation of growth in children, impairment of cognitive skills and development in young children as well as on the health of girls and women are typical consequences of NTDs affecting endemic populations (Hotez et al. 2006, Hotez et al. 2009). Trypanosomiasis, parasitic infections caused by protozoans of the Trypanosomatid family (a diverse group of flagellated parasites that show similar cellular structures and undergo morphological alterations during their life cycles), are considered NTDs (Doctors without borders and Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative).