Impoverished female farm workers infected with intestinal parasites known as hookworms saw significant improvements in physical fitness when they were treated with a low-cost deworming drug. The benefits were seen even in those with low level infections, according to a study co-authored by researchers at Yale and the nonprofit company InnovationsCZ.
The authors say that the beneficial effects of the drug albendazole could be especially important in food-challenged regions of Africa where a large portion of farmers are women and their physical capacity for growing crops and tending to livestock can determine whether their families eat or go hungry.
https://news.yale.edu/2018/04/10/low-cost-anti-hookworm-drug-boosts-female-farmers-physical-fitness
