Tuberculosis is one of the world's worst infectious diseases, taking about 1.5 million lives every year and killing someone every 20 seconds.

Dr. Luiz Bermudez hopes to change all that.

The Oregon State University professor is working on a new treatment for tuberculosis thanks to a $955,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"It took two or three years to get someone who was interested to fund it," said Bermudez, a 54-year-old Brazilian who leads OSU's department of biomedical science, part of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

That's because the study focuses on a compound in mefloquine, an existing drug commonly used to combat malaria. Funding was hard to come by because mefloquine causes side effects in about 15 percent of patients.

"They get too dizzy, cannot drive, this kind of thing," said Bermudez, in his Dryden Hall laboratory.

Bermudez, however, has isolated the compound in the drug that attacks tuberculosis, and he believes it is likely to be the least toxic part of the drug. He also thinks it could be quicker than current TB treatment, as well, which is critical.

Most TB infections occur in developing countries, and patients face challenges completing the required six months of treatment. That's contributing to the emergence of new, drug-resistant strains of the disease.

"All of the evidence so far shows that it's very difficult to require resistance to the drug," he said, regarding mefloquine. "What comes next for us is to discover what the target of the drug is."

That's proven difficult, however. The drug is too effective in killing TB, and Bermudez' team has been unable to develop a resistant strain to study.

One a target is found, Bermudez could design a new class of compounds to kill the bacteria.

Bermudez and other scientists first found that mefloquine could fight tuberculosis six years ago while doing a study to find medicines that are effective against all types of mycobacteria.

The Gates funds will cover the first part of the study, which will last about two years. OSU pharmacy professor Mark Zabriskie and three post-doctoral assistants will help in the research. If the work is successful, more grants could come.

The university would keep the intellectual property from the tuberculosis treatment, Bermudez said.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that usually affects the lungs and can be spread through the air. About one-third of the world's population has been infected with TB, though most won't develop the full-blown disease.