Scientists from the University of Dundee have discovered a new potential treatment for a neglected tropical disease which kills tens of thousands of people every year.

Visceral leishmaniasis is caused by a parasite, which is spread through the bite of infected sandflies.

People infected with the disease suffer fever, weight loss and anaemia, and the disease is typically fatal unless treated.

It is estimated there are 50,000 to 90,000 new cases per year with 20,000 to 40,000 deaths annually. mainly among the poorest people in the world.

Health experts said the current available drugs have limitations and are not ideal for use in settings with poor resources, and that new and improved treatments are needed.

In a collaboration between the Dundee team, GlaxoSmithKline and research charity Wellcome, scientists have now discovered the compound GSK3186899/DDD853651 which they believe has potential for development as a pre-clinical candidate drug.

Professor Paul Wyatt, head of the drug discovery unit (DDU) at the University of Dundee, said: "We have established that this compound works through a novel mode of action, principally through inhibition of an enzyme called CRK12.

"This is a significant step forward in our goal to develop new, oral and safer drugs to tackle a disease which kills tens of thousands of people every year.

"The compound still has some way to go before it can be used to treat patients, but we are excited by the great progress that we have made."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates more than 600 million people are at risk of visceral leishmaniasis.

The DDU, GSK Global Health Research and Development in Tres Cantos and Wellcome have been working together since 2011, to discover new pre-clinical candidate drugs for visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.

Diana Tay, from Wellcome's Innovation team, said: "This potential treatment is in pre-clinical stages of research, but could be used to treat those with the most severe form of leishmaniasis, which, untreated, kills 95% of people affected.

"This is one of a number of neglected tropical diseases - diseases which hit the world's poorest communities hardest, and for which innovation is vital to deliver new, affordable ways to save and protect lives from these devastating diseases."