Newbie : desperately need help on "import MySQLdb"

[Michel COMBE]

I'm trying to use MySQLdb in a python program.
System is Linux Mandrake 8.2,
Python is installed from rpm in /usr/bin
MySQLdb is installed from rpm in /usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages
MySQL version 2.23.53a is installed in /var/lib

If I type import "MySQLdb", I receive the message
File "/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/MySQLdb/__init__.py" line 27
ImportError: No module named _mysql

I spent more than 2 days on this. Can someone please help before I give up ?

Thanks
Michel Combe