A new study suggests that a course of the drug doxycycline can decrease acute seizure-related hospitalization and deaths related to nodding syndrome. Nodding syndrome is a neurological condition that causes severe and debilitating mental and physical disabilities and life-threatening seizures. The disease mainly affects children and adolescents living in parts of East Africa.
Recent research into the origins of nodding syndrome linked it to infection with a parasite responsible for the disease onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness. Based on this discovery, in research funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Dr Richard Idro from Makerere University worked with colleagues in Uganda, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), University of Oxford, National Institutes of Health, USA, Ministry of Health, Uganda, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to test whether a course of doxycycline, a drug that can cure onchocerciasis, would benefit patients suffering from nodding syndrome. The results, published in Lancet Global Health, showed that doxycycline can be used to control infection induced severe seizures in patients with nodding syndrome and substantially reduce antibodies to the parasite responsible for onchocerciasis.
The study's lead author Dr Richard Idro said: "This study not only confirms the association between infection by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus but also suggests that prevention of fever-causing infections with antibiotic .