Sydney: Australian scientists Wednesday claimed
to have discovered a protein and were developing a drug that
could cure tuberculosis which claims about 1,000 lives daily
in India alone.
Researchers at Sydney`s Centenary Institute said the
drug they were developing could cure the disease before it
takes hold and save millions of lives worldwide.
If the project succeeds, it will be the first new
treatment for TB since 1962.
Dr Nick West, Associate Faculty of the Mycobacterial
group at Centenary, said: "We have investigated a protein that
is essential for TB to survive and we have had some success in
developing a drug that will inhibit this protein.
"Our goal over the coming months is to find out the
full extent of this drug`s potential.
"If we can figure out a way to treat TB when it`s in a
latent stage, then we could save millions of lives throughout
the world."
Dr Nick West and his team are looking at the genetics of
TB in the hope that they would reveal a way to reduce the
impact of one of the deadliest diseases in the world.
Dr West said: "When someone is infected with TB they
either become sick immediately or the disease stays inactive,
latent."
"Unfortunately, the antibiotics we use to fight TB
aren`t effective against latent TB and can only be used when
the disease becomes active.
"This is a major problem as 1 out of 10 people who have
latent TB will develop the active disease, becoming sick and
contagious."
Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious
disease caused by mycobacteria in humans.It usually attacks
the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates, about 5,000 Indians develop TB and nearly 1,000
people die from it every day -- or two deaths in every three
minutes.
Worldwide, almost two million people die of TB each year
while two billion people, or one third of the world`s
population, are infected with the disease which is growing
faster in South East Asia.
PTI
