NPR

If A Worm Makes You Sick, Can This Cup Of Tea Cure You?

The parasitic infection schistosomiasis affects 200 million people a year but is deemed a "neglected tropical disease." A new study pays attention, comparing drug treatment with cups of wormwood tea.
Tea made from the wormwood plant. Wormwood tea has been used as a remedy for fever, liver and gall bladder ailments — and now it's being tested for the flatworm infection schistosomiasis.

Schistosomiasis is listed as a "neglected" tropical disease by the World Health Organization — one of those diseases that's been overlooked by modern medicine.

It mainly hits poor people in poor countries — and it hits a lot of them, up to 200 million a year. There are only a few drugs available to treat it. There are no designer drugs being cooked up in a lab in Europe for schistosomiasis. Doctoral students rarely pen their thesis on this disease.

But schistosomiasis can also be "neglected" by the very people it attacks. It can be a stealth disease. The infection starts slowly. A flatworm penetrates the skin of someone walking or working or swimming in

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