Japanese scientists say identify anti-TB compound

HONG KONG, Nov 28 (Reuters) Scientists in Japan say they have identified a compound that appears to stop the tuberculosis bacteria from multiplying, offering new hope in the fight against the increasingly drug-resistant disease.

At least a third of the world's population is estimated to be infected with the TB bacteria, which are protected by a thick waxy coat and can lie dormant for years. People who are infected normally only get sick when their immune systems are weak.

In an article published in the open access journal, PLoS Medicine, the researchers tested the compound, OPC-67683, on infected mice.

It attacked the walls of the bacteria and ''stopped it from dividing further'', said Makoto Matsumoto of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s Microbiological Research Institute.

The compound was also effective in fighting multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) strains of TB, he said.

''Now, we want to check (the efficacy of the compound) in human patients. We are getting approval for human clinical tests,'' Matsumoto told Reuters today.

TB is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It affects the lungs, central nervous, lymphatic and circulatory systems, bones and joints.

One in 10 latent infections progresses to active TB disease, which, if left untreated, can kill more than half its victims. It killed 1.7 million people worldwide in 2004.

Although it is mainly a scourge in developing countries, a rising number of people in the developed world are sickened by it because their immune systems are compromised by immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse or HIV/AIDS.

Dealing with the disease remains a huge challenge because many strains of TB have become resistant to antibiotics.

Apart from MDR-TB, or strains that are resistant to two of the most effective first-line TB drugs, there is now extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), which is resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs.

Matsumoto said the compound, which his company synthesised, should be used in combination with other drugs to prevent or slow the development of drug resistance.

REUTERS SP SND1130