The University of California,San Francisco recently received $16 million from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support its research projects in developing nations, which aimsto reduce childhood mortality and river blindness through antibiotic administration.

Based on previous successful outcomes, UCSF research leaders will continue their work in various African nations to see if results can be experienced on a much larger scale. Thomas Lietman is heading an international team in a multi-year study to reduce childhood mortality rates, which was granted $12 million. Through the initiative, the group plans to administer azithromycin, an oral antibiotic that is usually used to treat a strain of chlamydia that causes blindness called trachoma. In previous experiments, communities that received the medication saw decreasesin childhood mortality.

A study led by James McKerrow received a $4.3 million grant in support of the team's work developing a drug capable of killing filiariae, parasitic roundworms that cause river blindness. This is the leading cause of blindness in areas of West Africa, and it's also closely related to the parasite that causes lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis). The team suspects a drug that can kill one might be effective at eradicating the other.

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