CURES for some of the world's deadliest diseases could soon be found thanks to a medical breakthrough by North-East scientists.

Toxic shock syndrome, septicaemia and the flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis could be consigned to the medical history books, researchers from Northumbria University, in Newcastle, say.

The antibiotic-resistant diseases are caused by the streptococcus bacterium.

Until now, scientists have not understood what turns this ordinary bacterium - which is best known as the cause of sore throats - into a killer.

But Dr Gary Black and a team from the university's school of applied sciences say they have isolated one of the main enzymes responsible for the diseases - known as a hyaluronidase, HylP1.

Dr Black found that the enzyme has a rare triple-stranded beta-helix shape, which is similar to only four other enzymes out of the thousands tested in recent years.

"Solving the three dimensional structure of the enzyme means we have a better understanding of how the enzymes bind to other matter and how they work," he said.

"We need to understand how the enzyme works to understand how we can stop it.

"This is a major breakthrough which has the potential to save thousands of lives in the future."

Dr Black, 39, from County Durham, hopes a leading pharmaceutical company will take up his research.

In a further breakthrough, scientists at the Imperial College London say they have found a compound that can deliver a knock-out blow to the deadly superbug MRSA.

They hope the compound will be used in gels for washing in hospitals, treating skin infections, and eradicating MRSA in patients.

* End of the syndrome? - see Features.