While I was looking through some science magazines, there was an article about cockroaches going to be used in future antibiotics. Currently, British scientists hope that one of the hardiest insects around, the cockroach, may be used in future antibiotics. As they live in dirty and unhygienic environments, such as sewers and garbage dumps, they have developed a sort of immunity against bacteria over the years.
After going through tests, scientists have discovered that the tissue from the brains and nervous system of the cockroaches had killed more than 90% of the tested bacteria without damaging any human cells. The scientists were not surprised that the insects could naturally secrete their own antimicrobial drugs.
As cockroaches live in unsanitary and harsh environments, they often encounter many different types of bacteria. It would therefore be logical that they developed themselves against micro-organisms.
This topic interests me, as the thought of how an insect as dirty as the cockroach could be used in antibiotics to treat humans is shocking, yet the results of doing that would be very effective.
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