synthetic drug used in the treatment of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis), a disease caused by an infestation of the protozoan Trypanosoma and spread by the tsetse fly. Suramin is administered by intravenous injection. It is most effective when given in the early stages of disease because it attacks the parasites as they circulate in the bloodstream and concentrate in the lymph nodes. (At a later stage they invade the spinal fluid.) Suramin has also been used in the treatment of river blindness ( onchocerciasis), a disease caused by the helminth Onchocerca volvulus and spread by the black fly Simulium.