Exploring Potential Alternatives to Combat Microbial Resistance

Did you remember the antibiotics that started the journey of antibiotics? I am talking about penicillin, the antibiotic that was discovered by Scottish physician Alexander Fleming. I need to give that guy an award for saving my life a number of times, actually, not literarily saving my life, I mean for being the person to notice the superstar mold known as penicillin which has played a role in increasing our lifespan by about 10 years.

Before you begin asking, I was going to tell you what antibiotics are. Antibiotics are selective poisons that attack bacteria thereby killing them completely, or slowing their growth. They are also known as antimicrobials so if you hear someone saying that, don't look like they just said something out of the ordinary.

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While antibiotics have been doing a good job, in recent times they have been having a difficult time destroying microbes, thereby leading to what is referred to as resistance of microbes to antibiotics, and scientists are starting to find alternative ways to keep these bacteria in check. We have been able to look at some organisms, and in this post, we will be looking at the organisms that scientists have been researching.

First are cockroaches. It is no doubt that these insects are very resistant to a lot of things, and little wonder why people joke that after a global disaster, only cockroaches would survive. Scientists have been able to look at cockroaches and locusts, and they see that they contain antibiotics in their brains known as antimicrobial peptides which roaches use to communicate with one another that can be used in eliminating E.coli and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. It can also be used to treat and stimulate liver recovery after a hepatitis B infection. Lab trials for peptide tests on bacteria showed that they killed over 90% of the bacteria without affecting the host's cells.

Another animal that is said to be good at combating microbes is Alligator. Alligators are resistant to bacterial infection, and this was studied by Dr. Mark Merchant for over a decade to find out why they are resistant to bacterial and fungal infection. The result showed that alligators have an innate immune system and have active protein peptides in their wet blood cell, which is effective against candida albicans, MRSA, and a wide range of bacteria. These proteins are also said to be found in the blood of Komodo dragons.

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Before you see it as a bacterial and fungi target alone, alligators are said to have antiviral action as a hormone in their blood that is effective against a strain of HIV. As you jump for joy, I should also tell you that studies haven't proved this to a reasonable doubt as research is done on it continuously, also high concentrations of gator blood serum have been shown to be toxic to humans.

We have been looking at antibiotic-resistant microbes over the years and they have started to become a pain in the neck but then using proteins or blood serum from these organisms are yet to become a ready-to-use thing for everyone. In other to be able to begin the usage of compounds from these animals, we need to understand why they possess these compounds, their dosage, and their effects on human cells when introduced into humans. We have a long way to go when it has to do with using these organisms as drugs and since there is no bacterial pandemic, it might take decades for any of these studies to be approved for human use.

Reference

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9753028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4001588/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2272068/
https://rsi.laregents.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/laepscor_v8no7.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6716921/
https://www.uhnresearch.ca/news/crocodiles-hold-clues-curing-hiv
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15781130/
https://www.uhnresearch.ca/news/crocodiles-hold-clues-curing-hiv