Komodo dragon blood helps fight antibiotic resistant bacteria

Scientists from George Mason University in the United States recently discovered a new way to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria through Komodo blood. Some compounds found in the blood of these giant lizards can be used to make new antibiotics.

It seems, real life dragon blood also contains many mysteries that are no less than in the legend.

They are able to resist two species of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the top of the list recently published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

List of 12 most dangerous viruses published by WHO.

Komodo dragon is the largest lizard species on Earth that exists and is found only in some Indonesian islands. The maximum length of individual Komodo dragons can reach 3 meters.

Komodo dragons are carnivores, they hunt buffaloes, deer, goats and even the same kind. This dragon often attacks prey with fatal bites on the throat and waits for the victim to collapse. Because the venom and dozens of types of bacteria that cause damage in saliva the dragons that have been transmitted into the animal's blood through the bite will do the rest.

But why in the clashes with fellow humans, Komodo dragons are not infected?

In the animal world, not only Komodo dragons but also some other species carry peptides - amino acid sequences that are segments of proteins, have antibacterial properties (AntiMicrobial Peptides - AMP). These are weapons that help them fight natural infections.

When observing how the victims were killed from the Komodo dragon bite, the scientists suspected that their AMP must be extremely strong enough to protect themselves from fellow bites. If so, it will be a source of compounds that can help people develop new antibiotics.

Dr. Monique van Hoek and Barney Bishop collected fresh blood samples from Komodo dragons to search for the peptides in them. They discovered 48 types of AMP that have never been discovered before and they all have the potential to be used to prepare drugs.

Green pus bacillus

Dr. Hoek has exposed two extremely dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria to eight of the 48 newly discovered AMP types. Initial results were promising, 7 out of 8 AMP types inhibited the development of golden staphylococcus - Staphylococcus aureus and green pus bacillus - Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One of them only resisted the green pus bacillus.

Green pus bacilli and golden staph are the listed bacteria in the list of bacteria that humans need new antibiotics to treat the World Health Organization.

This new finding gives us more hope in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria that causes the deaths of more than 700,000 people annually worldwide.

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