Nifurtimox -a nitrofuran antibiotic- is not active against mycobacteria

What is it about?

Nifurtimox is the only nitrofuran antibiotic that distributes well throughout the human body and could thus help fight bacterial infections. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial diseases are very difficult to treat and new antibiotics for these infections are direly needed. In the laboratory, we now show that nifurtimox is not active against mycobacteria, including both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria. Nifurtimox should no longer be considered a candidate drug for mycobacterial diseases.

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Why is it important?

Nitrofurans have some antimycobacterial activity but do not reach the organs where mycobacteria cause most infections (lungs, skin, bones). The only one that does reach these sites, nifurtimox, has no activity against mycobacteria. New nitrofurans with specific antimycobacterial properties remain to be designed.

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