Frog skin may provide “kiss of death” for antibiotic-resistant germs
Date: 17.9.2010
Scientists today reported that frog skin contains natural substances that could be the basis for a powerful new genre of antibiotics.
In a report at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the team of stalwart frog-fanciers described enlisting colleagues worldwide to ship secretions from hundreds of promising frog skins to their laboratory in the United Arab Emirates. Using that amphibious treasure trove, they identified more than 100 antibiotic substances in the skins of different frog species from around the world.
The antibiotic substances work in an unusual way that makes it very difficult for disease-causing microbes to develop resistance, Conlon said.
One substance isolated from the skin secretions of the Foothill Yellow-legged Frog - a species once common in California and Oregon but now facing extinction - shows promise for killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria.
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