SCIENTISTS at Manchester University have made a major breakthrough in treating asthma.
In another world-first, they are testing a drug which could prevent severe sufferers having the sort of asthma attacks that usually require hospital treatment.
The antibiotic wouldn't be a cure for all asthmatics as it is only severe asthma which is sparked by fungus, but it could save countless lives.
The Manchester researchers discovered that severe asthma appears to be caused by common airborne fungi like household mould, damp, dead leaves, trees and grass.
Most people do not have a reaction, but in severe asthmatics the fungus is thought to make the airways narrow, making it harder to breathe, causing wheezing and coughing.
The first trial on 46 severely asthmatic patients around Greater Manchester indicated that 75 per cent were allergic to one or more fungi in the air.
Now, the team which works across four north west hospitals, is starting a year-long trial to test a drug on 100 asthmatics, which could prevent attacks by killing the fungus inhaled into the body.
Severe asthma affects 20 per cent of Britain's five million sufferers.
If the drug treatment is successful, it could help thousands who have to rely on steroid inhalers to prevent an attack or other inhalers to widen their air passages if they become breathless.
Lead trial investigator Dr Robert Niven, from the North West Lung Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital, said: "We have few options for patients with severe asthma other than prescribing more steroids, and those we do have can have side effects worse than steroids themselves.
This anti-fungal drug is not a treatment that will work for all asthmatics, but there are thousands of people in the UK that it could help.