A breakthrough research has managed to develop a drug that can prove put to beat a lethal parasite. It was done by a team of researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and Wake Forest School of Medicine. They managed to found that the rheumatoid arthritis medication auranofin can provide relief to those who are being affected by Entamoeba hisotolica.

It is believed that the parasite has the tendency to claim lives of 70,000 people throughout the world every year and that’s what makes it all the more imperative that there is some sort of cure found.

"This new use of an old drug represents a promising therapy for a major health threat and highlights how research funded by the National Institutes of Health can benefit people around the world”, said Sharon Reed, professor in the UCSD Departments of Pathology and Medicine, who led the research.

It is believed by US' Centre for Disease Control's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria that the world's fourth most fatal protozoan intestinal parasite is prevalent commonly in develop countries and that’s what must be kept in mind while developing any sort of treatment. Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study claimed that the drug has been approved by the US' Food and Drug Administration for human use.