Cockroach Brains are loaded with antibiotics

G’day to you! Ready for another exciting day? What’s on your agenda besides a quick natter with me? Coffee’s ready. New tray of treats waiting for you. I see you eyeing the chocolate ones! Say…how do you feel about cockroaches? Yecch! Yup… I thought so. Everybody hates roaches. One day though, a cockroach just may save your life. These hated but hardy critters actually possess powerful antibiotic properties inside their little brains which could be used to help combat drug resistant bacterial infection in humans.

According to Physorg, researchers from the University of Nottingham found that cockroaches brains and nervous systems contain a substance that was 90 percent effective in killing resilient bacterial strains, like MRSA and E. coli bacteria, while leaving surrounding human tissue unharmed.

Researcher Simon Lee explains how the discovery could help combat superbugs:

“We hope that these molecules could eventually be developed into treatments for E. coli and MRSA infections that are increasingly resistant to current drugs. These new antibiotics could potentially provide alternatives to currently available drugs that may be effective but have serious and unwanted side effects.”

Mutant strains of drug resistant bacteria, called superbugs, are a growing concern among medical researchers. Through the heavy use of antibiotics and disinfectant, particularly in a hospital setting, bacterial forms occasionally evolve resiliency to antibiotics. These superbugs ¨have shown the ability to cause untreatable infections, and have become a major threat in our fight against bacterial diseases,¨ says Dr Naveed Khan, who´s working with Simon on the project. ¨Thus, there is a continuous need to find additional sources of novel antimicrobials to confront this menace.¨

Cockroach molecules, while lethal to bacteria are not apparently harmful to human cells. Some antibiotics on the market,  US FDA approved, can cause unpleasant side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea, kidney stones and even deafness. Wonderful, huh! Bring on the roaches!

While it may be a bit surprising that an insect normally considered unclean may hold the key to keeping ourselves disease free in the future, Dr. Kahn says the cockroach´s down and dirty lifestyle may be the reason why.

Insects often live in unsanitary and unhygienic environments where they encounter many different types of bacteria. It is therefore logical that they have developed ways of protecting themselves against micro-organisms.

So, it just may be the outcast little cockroach that comes through in the end to save humanity from evil superbugs.

So next time you get the urge to bash the brains out of one of those ugly, critters, don’t be so hasty.

See ya!

Bob

Comment from Jim Farmer in Pattaya, Thailand:

Hi Bob,

        Thanks for the pictures and the write up. You did a great job. Thanks too for your generous donations to the kids.
        Wow, now we're getting international coverage with my Baan Jing Jai pictures. Check on the Viking site below (it's the Scandinavian Expats Club Pattaya web site) which is in Norwegian but gets translated to English through Google translate.

http://translate.google.co.th/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=no&tl=en&u=www.vikingpattaya.com&act=url

On the left click where it says "Latest Updates" Baan Jing Jai orphanage.
Click under the heading "Happy children in swimming pool" where it says READ MORE.

Thanks, Jim