Mencari Obat Baru Untuk Penyakit Filariasis

Di muat dalam Rubrik Kesehatan DW TV Jerman Program Indonesia tanggal 3 Maret 2015, link klik di sini. ©DW TV 2015.

Screenshot Video tentang Filariasis oleh DW TV.

Lymphatic Filariasis atau Elephantiasis merupakan penyakit kronis yang kerap diabaikan. Untuk meneliti aspek penyakit ini, seorang peneliti Indonesia melakukan riset di Universitas Bonn, Jerman. Ia berusaha menemukan obat untuk penyakit yang disebabkan cacing itu.

In English:

Lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis is a neglected chronic  tropical disease that is caused  by filarial worms. Although the disease does not lead to mortality to the patients  it can cause to permanent disability. To study the immunological and parasitological aspects of the disease, an Indonesian medical researcher has been conducting a research at an institute in Germany. He examines a protein named interleukin-6, which is believed to activate the immune cells during early infection. 

O tone Muhsin 1 :
"This man cannot do his daily activities anymore. Meanwhile, more than 120 million people worldwide suffer from Filariasis or Elephantiasis which is characterized by enlargement of lymphatic vessel mainly in the extremities."

In University Hospital Bonn, Germany, a doctor from Indoneisa, Muhsin, has been doing a lot of investigations regarding the disease. The infection, as he explained to DW TV,  occurs when filarial parasites are transmitted to humans through the bites of mosquitoes that harbour infective-stage larvae.

O ton Muhsin 2 :
"The disease is caused by worms - white and long. There are three species of worms that cause the disease: Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori. Indonesia, is the only country that has all these three species of worms."

In Germany, Muhsin investigates interleukin-6 that has an important role during elephantiasis. He conducts the  experiments using a mouse model of infection that is closely resembles to immune response in human filariasis . Different with human filariasis that is transmitted by  mosquitoes, model of filariasis in mice is transmitted by the mites.

O ton Muhsin 3 :
"The mites , very tiny, they bite the mice and transfer the larvae into the body. After less than a week, the larvae migrate to the pleural cavity, where the worms reside and develop and can reach more than five centimetres long."

After his three years of investigation, Muhsin finds an interesting result that interleukin-6 deficiency led to a reduction of incoming larvae through the skin. This reduction of larvae  is potentially due to activation of immune cells by interleukin-6 that kills the larvae in the skin. Using a  microscope, Muhsin investigates the skin histology of infected animals. .

O ton Muhsin 4 :
"I would like to examine this result in human filariasis. I hypothesize that interleukin-6 has similar role in human which mediates larval destruction in the skin by the activation of immune cells."

If the human study shows a positive result and parallel with animal study, interleukin-6 can be potential target of new drug development for filariasis.