Cockroaches and locusts can become raw materials for the production of antibiotics
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The problem of the resistance of pathogenic bacteria to medicines is becoming more acute.
Scientists now and then find microorganisms, which "do not take" even the strongest antibiotics. Such microbes are called in the language of medicine "overexposure". For example, if at the beginning of the last century, when the use of antibiotics for medical purposes only gained momentum, penicillin was successfully used to control streptococci, but now it is powerless.
Streptococcus now contains an enzyme that breaks down penicillin. Moreover, there are even such types of streptococci, for which penicillin is vital.
Recently, a group of scientists from John Hopkins University School of Public Health (Baltimore, USA) made a similar discovery about tuberculosis.
The rifampicin drug used to treat this disease turns out to be a "drug" for the tubercle bacillus.
Scientists were surprised to find that bacteria, while protecting themselves from the action of antibiotics, behave like social beings. James Collins and colleagues at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Boston, USA, told the Neuce magazine about their experiment with intestinal bacteria.
The colony of these bacteria they exposed to the antibiotic, gradually increasing its dose. Resistance to it was not developed by all bacteria, however the entire colony proved invulnerable to the drug.
The World Health Organization recently stated that humanity is on the threshold of the "post-biotytic era", when even the simplest infections can again become deadly.
Already, according to WHO, only in the EU countries from infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria annually die 25 thousand people.
The European Center for the Prevention and Control of Diseases also leads the similar data - every year 400 thousand people are infected with resistant microbes, and most of them catch them in hospitals.
"We have reached a critical point, as resistance to available antibiotics has reached an unprecedented scale, and new antibacterial agents can not be created at the same rapid pace," said WHO Regional Director for Europe Susanna Jakab.
Although the emergence of resistance is a natural process, many circumstances, as reported by WHO, contribute to the fact that this process is now extremely accelerated. One of them is the availability and uncontrolled use of antibiotic drugs. Without a prescription, these drugs are sold in 14 of the 21 Eastern European countries.
These funds are bought not only to treat people, but also for pets and livestock. In some regions of the world, according to the WHO, almost half of all antibiotics produced are "fed" for preventive purposes to animals.
Another problem is the lack of good faith of doctors, many of whom prescribe antibiotics for patients with viral infections (for example, with influenza), when such funds in principle can not help. In addition, often patients prematurely stop taking antibiotics, which promotes the development of resistant bacteria.
One of the tasks that WHO poses in connection with the current situation is the development of new antibiotics. The task is extremely difficult, but the researchers, engaged in its solution, sometimes manage to achieve unexpected results. A group of scientists from the University of Nottingham (Great Britain), led by Simon Lee, has established that cockroaches and locusts can become a promising raw material for the production of antibiotics.
Investigating in these insects superhead ganglion (a nerve node that performs the function of the brain), scientists have identified nine substances that are toxic to certain microorganisms.
Laboratory experiments have shown the high effectiveness of these substances in the fight against Staphylococcus aureus (this bacterium can cause from commonplace acne to such dangerous diseases as pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, etc.) and E. Coli.
For human cells, these substances were harmless. Scientists were not particularly surprised by the discovery that cockroaches and locusts are capable of producing antibiotics in their bodies.
"These insects live in extremely unhygienic and unhealthy conditions, in which they have to deal with pathogens of many diseases. Therefore, it is logical that they have developed their own defense strategies against microorganisms, "explained Simon Lee.
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