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HIV dead at the "hands" of Croc Blood?


IrishEyes

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Nemo pointed me towards this article, and I thought it was very interesting.

 

Croc's blood the key to ending HIV???

 

This is just a snippet from the article. Click the link to read more...

 

By Michael Perry

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Scientists in Australia's tropical north are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile's immune system kills the HIV virus.

 

The crocodile's immune system is much more powerful than that of humans, preventing life-threatening infections after savage territorial fights which often leave the animals with gaping wounds and missing limbs.

 

"They tear limbs off each other and despite the fact that they live in this environment with all these microbes, they heal up very rapidly and normally almost always without infection," said U.S. scientist Mark Merchant, who has been taking crocodile blood samples in the Northern Territory.

 

Initial studies of the crocodile immune system in 1998 found that several proteins (antibodies) in the reptile's blood killed bacteria that were resistant to penicillin, such as Staphylococcus aureus or golden staph, Australian scientist Adam Britton told Reuters on Tuesday. It was also a more powerful killer of the HIV virus than the human immune system.

 

"If you take a test tube of HIV and add crocodile serum it will have a greater effect than human serum. It can kill a much greater number of HIV viral organisms," Britton said from Darwin's Crocodylus Park, a tourism park and research center.

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I don't think that assumption is correct...

 

Look at the post that started it in the first place (#3). OpenMind5 then "laughs out loud" later at the next remark in post #4... That implied to me that the remark was unintentionally humorous and I think EWright was being serious when he said that "Now isn't that how HIV got started in the first place?", meaning men hunting, in the jungles, miles away from women and civilization...

 

I'll stop there :eek2:.

 

Now maybe I'm completely off base but that's just how I perceived it :eek_big:.

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  • 2 months later...

___I watched some TV programming last night on viruses, AIDS among them. It seems there is a small group of Black prostitutes in Africa who have a natural immunity. They have them under intense scrutiny in an effort to find a cure. As I recall, their killer T cells can kill the virus unlike most people wherein the HIV virus attacks & kills the killer T cells.

Very interesting work chemically as well as socially; the prostitutes now have an air of importance & respect they previously lacked. :confused:

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