Chicago Tribune (CT) - MONDAY, September 16, 1996 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 10 Word Count: 475
Laurie Goering, Tribune Staff Writer.

Scientists at the Venezuela Research Institute say they have for the first time successfully killed Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas' disease, using an anti-fungal drug created to control candidosis in patients with AIDS.

Tests on mice indicate a 70 to 90 percent cure rate. If those results can be replicated in humans, "we can look at this disease as a curable condition," said Dr. Julio Urbina, a Venezuelan chemist who recently published his results in the journal Science.

Chagas, the third most common parasite-caused disease in the world behind malaria and schistosomiasis, is transmitted to humans by the bite of the vinchuca bug, a so-called "true bug."

Vinchucas usually live in cracks in mud-walled homes and in thatched roofing, coming out at night to bite their victims. Highly successful campaigns against the bug in Brazil and throughout much of Latin America have focused on replacing thatched roofs with tin, and coating adobe walls with insecticidal paint.

Authorities also have stepped up testing at blood banks throughout the region in an effort to stop the transmission of Chagas through transfusions.

But how to help the millions of people already infected with the disease--which slowly subverts the body's immune system and leads to fatal heart and intestinal lesions in about 30 percent of cases--has been a lingering problem for Latin American doctors.

Chagas' disease leaves many victims unaware they are infected. It kills about 45,000 people a year, according to the Pan-American Health Organization. Between 2 million and 3 million other people have established chronic complications.

In those cases, "there is no way back," Urbina said.

Most people infected with Chagas--more than 13 million--do not yet have any irreversible problems, and they are the ones who stand to benefit from the new drug, Urbina said.

Not having an effective treatment for early stages of the disease "has been our frustration for years," he said. Now, "we have a real hope."

Studies in mice show that the drug, D0870, or bistriazol, eliminates the T. cruzi parasite even after it is established in its host and halts the white blood cell destruction and chronic inflammation that the parasite also causes. The drug already has been used successfully in human beings to treat HIV-related fungal infections in clinical trials, with apparently few serious side effects. That suggests it may also be well-tolerated by Chagas patients.

The World Health Organization, which for the past five years has funded Urbina's work, now will also fund clinical trials with a British pharmaceutical company that produces the drug. Those could start by 1998 and perhaps lead to a cure on the market by the turn of the century, Urbina said.

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