Antibiotics: Cockroach Brains Cure!

A major medical advance may soon come from the lowly cockroach!

It sounds gross, but doctors say they found a chemical inside cockroach brains that can be used as a powerful medicine, combating diseases like E. coli that antibiotics have
never been able to counteract well.

Said one scientist ""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."

the antibiotic they hope to make from cockroach brains is hoped to treat Invasive MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a serious hospital-acquired infection.

Antibiotics: Cockroach Brains Cure!
businessweek

Cockroach brains may be a source of new antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug-resistant bacteria, according to research that suggests the germ-spreading pests may be good for something after all. Insects such as cockroaches have a defense mechanism against bacteria, a "logical" development from living in unhygienic conditions, research from the U.K.'s University of Nottingham showed. Tissues from the brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts killed more than 90 percent of MRSA and E. coli without damaging human cells, scientists said.

Antibiotics: Cockroach Brains Cure!