INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – An Indianapolis scientist has won a nearly $2 million federal grant to find new ways of combating a dangerous parasite that's infected an estimated 60 million Americans.

IU School of Medicine researcher William Sullivan and his team will use the National Institutes of Health grant to devise new methods of attacking the Toxoplasma parasite.

Most people infected with that parasite either develop flu-like symptoms or none at all.

But people with compromised immune systems can develop lung problems, blindness, seizures and other serious health problems as the parasite develops into a chronic infection.

The new grant will enable Sullivan and his colleagues to continue their work into understanding how an enzyme the parasite needs to replicate might be used to develop new drugs to halt the parasite in its tracks.