A new pill being developed to treat intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate parasitic infections that affect an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide, researchers say.

The mango-flavored pills are a combination of two existing antiparasitic drugs that, when used together, can repel worms more effectively.

These worms are contracted through contact with soil-infected food or water contaminated with eggs, and infection can cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition, and anemia.

Researchers say the drug could help overcome any future resistance issues and better control the disease at scale.

Also known as soil-transmitted helminths (STH), these parasites include whipworm and hookworm and are endemic in many developing countries with poor sanitation.

Many of those affected are children and have no preventive treatment other than better sanitation.

According to a study called “ALIVE”Published in The Lancet, this new drug could help the worst-affected countries meet targets set by the World Health Organization World Health Organization to eliminate disease.

It will be taken as a fixed dose, either one pill or three pills taken on consecutive days.

Researchers from eight European and African institutions say it would be a simple way to cure large numbers of patients in large-scale treatment programmes.

“It’s easy to take because it’s a pill,” said project leader Professor Jose Munoz.

“Furthermore, we hope that combining two drugs with different mechanisms of action will reduce the risk of parasites developing drug resistance,” said Professor Muñoz.

Once a person becomes infected, the parasite takes hold in the person’s digestive tract.

While the drug albendazole is effective in treating some types of STH, it appears to be less effective in treating some other types of the condition.

In a clinical trial of 1,001 children aged 5 to 18 years in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, it was found to be more effective against a wider range of infections when used in combination with the drug ivermectin.

However, the results don’t tell us how effective it is in treating roundworms, the researchers said.

Professor Hany Elsheikha, an expert in parasitology at the University of Nottingham, said the pill could be a “significant improvement over other treatments” and could be used to combat a wide range of parasites.

“There are some challenges with existing drugs … so this could be a very, very big addition.”

However, he said that while the research was “promising”, there were “some gaps”.

“We don’t know if the results are the same for adults, mature people, young children, people in other parts of the world.”

The trial results have been submitted to regulatory authorities in Europe and Africa, with a decision expected in early 2025.

Participants are currently being recruited for a further trial of 20,000 people in Kenya and Ghana.

Dr Stella Kefa, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute who was involved in the study, said the pill had “huge potential to improve the health of affected communities” but there was still “work to be done” before the treatment could be widely rolled out.