Crocodile blood antibiotics?

July 21st, 2009 by admin Leave a reply »
SYDNEY – Scientists in northern tropical Australia to collect blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile immune system kills the HIV virus.

The crocodile immune system is much more powerful than human beings, the prevention of life after infection Savage territorial fights which often leave the animals with wounds and missing limbs omissions.

“They tear limbs from each other and despite the fact that living in this environment, with all these microbes, which heal very quickly and, usually, almost always without infection,” said Mark Merchant, an American scientist, who was crocodile blood samples in the Northern Territory.

Early studies on the crocodile immune system in 1998 found that several proteins (antibodies) in the blood of reptiles killed bacteria that are resistant to penicillin, such as Staphylococcus aureus or Golden Staph, Australian scientist Adam Britton told Reuters on Tuesday. There was also a more powerful killer of the HIV virus that the human immune system.

“If you have a tube of HIV and add crocodile serum will have a greater effect of human serum. It can kill a much larger number of HIV viral organisms,” Britton said from Darwin’s Crocodylus Park, a tourism park and research center .

Britton said the crocodile immune system works differently than the human system directly attacking bacteria immediately an infection in the body.

“The crocodile has an immune system which attaches to bacteria and tears it apart and exploding. And ‘as if you have a gun to the head of the bacteria and pulling the trigger,” he said.

Over the past 10 days Britton and Merchant have been carefully collecting blood from wild and captive crocodiles, including species of freshwater and saltwater. After recording a crocodile and his band of powerful jaws closed the scientists extract blood from a large vein behind the head.

‘It is a sinus, right behind the head, and it is simply to create a needle into the back of the neck and hit this sinus and then you can get a large volume of blood very simply, “says Britton.

The scientists hope that enough crocodile blood to isolate the powerful antibodies and eventually develop an antibiotic for human use.

“We are capable of antibiotics that have been verbally,” said Kaufmann. ‘Potentially even antibiotics that could be topically on wounds, say diabetic ulcer wounds. Burn patients often infects the skin and the like. ”

However, the crocodile immune system may be too powerful for humans and must be synthesized for human consumption.

“There are a lot of work to do,” said Britton. “It may take years before we are at a stage when we have something on the market.”

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