February 28, 2017.
According to a study conducted by a team of researchers from George-Mason University in the United States, we find in the blood of the Komodo dragon proteins capable of killing bacteria that are very dangerous for humans.
An antidote for bacterial resistance
How to deal with the resistance of certain bacteria to antibiotics? Researchers around the world are working on this question. But it could be that the Komodo dragon has a solution for us. This terrifying animal, straight out of prehistoric times, would indeed have quite interesting antibacterial capacities. This is in any case what reveals a study published in the Journal of Proteome Research.
According to these studies, this Indonesian monitor lizard, 2 to 3 meters long and weighing almost 70 kilos, is the carrier of many bacteria which, however, do not harm it. This bacterial resistance has therefore been studied and is believed to be due to the presence of proteins in his blood. These proteins would be able to effectively fight bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and which kill nearly 700,000 people each year around the world.
Making treatments for the deadliest infections
Researchers are hopeful that these proteins, also known as antimicrobial peptides, may be the basis of treatments for the deadliest infections. To further their work, they synthesized 8 of these proteins and tested their effectiveness on different microbes, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus MRSA, two multi-resistant bacteria.
Results : 7 proteins managed to kill these two bacteria and the eighth only managed to kill one of the two. However, this very encouraging work will have to be pushed even further to find out whether men will be able to withstand treatments that contain these proteins. The World Health Organization (WHO) recalled, Monday, February 27, the urgency to strengthen the means in the fight against super bacteria. It will never have been heard so quickly.
Read also: Bacterial resistance: what alternatives to antibiotics?
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