Scientists fight back against TB

TB claims millions of lives world-wide

Scientists are developing a treatment to combat strains of the deadly disease tuberculosis that have become resistant to current drugs.

They believe the answer could be a family of compounds called nitroimidazopyrans.

In culture and in tests on mice and guinea pigs, one member of the nitroimidazopyran family, PA-824, was more effective at killing all types of the TB bacterium than the current number one TB drug isoniazid.

We have discovered a new class of antibiotic agent that is very potent against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis

Dr William Baker, PathoGenesis

Scientists from PathoGenesis Corporation, Seattle, tracked the impact of the new drug by inserting a gene into the test animals that made the TB bacteria glow.

When the drug worked, the lights went out.

The researchers estimate that with serious funding and successful clinical trials, the new drug could be approved within five to eight years.

Researcher Dr William Baker told BBC News Online: "What we have discovered is a new class of antibiotic agent that is very potent against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

"It is very important that we find new drugs to combat MDR tuberculosis. At present if somebody gets infected and presents with symptoms of disease then the chances of dying are pretty high.

"There is no therapy for these people, and surgical removal of a lung is the only option."

TB remains the single greatest cause of death world-wide from infectious disease, killing about 2million people each year.

Some forms of TB are resistant to drugs

As much as one-third of the world's population may be latently infected with the TB bacterium.

Multi-drug-resistant strains of the disease are becoming ever more of a problem, especially in the developing world.

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) warned earlier this year that TB was "one of the most seriously neglected and underestimated health, human rights and poverty problems of our era".

Experts fear that the disease will begin to spread even more rapidly as improved transport systems make travel increasingly easy.

No significant new treatments have appeared since the 1960s.

The research is published in the journal Nature.