The dirt on dirt

(Photo by Omegatron)

Because superbugs are becoming more and more resistant to standard antibiotics, researchers are literally digging in the dirt

for new medications.

A company named Lodo Therapeutics (lodo meaning “mud in Spanish and Portugese”) has been collecting bags of dirt throughout New York City in order to create drugs from the bacterial DNA that lurks within.  

This could work because bacteria are known to produce antibiotics for their own protection.  If new strains could be found within these soil samples, then their DNA could be cloned and installed into lab-reproducing microorganisms.  New types of antibiotics could then be cultivated.

If this seems a bit grimy, bear in mind that penicillin is linked with moldy cantaloupe, and bacitracin with “an infected wound of a girl who had been hit by a truck.”

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-dirt-could-save-humanity-from-an-infectious-apocalypse/ar-AAuFDUD?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=BHEA000

Copyright January 14, 2018 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved