Tuberculosis can be treated with natural drugs
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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In many countries of the world the problem of high incidence of tuberculosis is very acute. In Ukraine, every fourth resident gets sick with this disease, and one person from this number dies.
A team of Swiss scientists discovered that the secretion products of soil bacteria are a potential natural cure for tuberculosis.
The natural substance released by soil bacteria, gives hope for the possibility of developing a new, more effective drug for fighting tuberculosis. The results of their work, the scientists outlined in the report in the "EMBO Molecular Medicine".
Specialists have shown how pyridomycin works as a natural antibiotic that produces bacteria Dactylosporangium fulvum. This antibiotic behaves quite actively in relation to many drug-resistant types of tuberculosis bacteria that no longer respond to treatment with the main drug isoniazid.
Thanks to evolution, some bacteria are under powerful defense mechanisms. Therefore, studying the products of their vital functions is a definite way to find new medicines for fighting infections, "said lead author of the study, Professor Stuart Cole. "Thanks to this approach, we have shown that pyridomycin is a natural antibiotic that leads to an electoral war with mycobacteria of tuberculosis." He is very active in relation to mycobacteria, which do not allow to reach the virus of the first line of medicines, such as isoniazid. "
Annually from tuberculosis two million people die. Therefore, there is an urgent need for scientists to develop a drug that will stop the disease or slow its course.
Rifampicin and isoniazid are the most well-known medicines used to treat tuberculosis. However, these drugs today, unfortunately, are very often ineffective.
Experts have isolated the protein of mycobacteria - InhA, which is the main target for antibiotics. It turned out that with this protein pyridomycin binds in such a way that it defeats drug-resistant strains of mycobacteria.
Pyridomycin kills mycobacterium tuberculosis by inhibiting the activity of InhA enzymes.