New medical miracle found in vagina

15 September 2014 - 13:18 By Times LIVE
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Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

Researchers have discovered a new antibiotic, made by the bacteria that live in the vagina.

According to a news report on Nature,  the drug,  lactocillin, hints at the untapped medical potential of this microbial landscape.

Michael Fischbach led a team to figure out how our microbiomes (the bacteria living in our bodies) impact our health, research which proceeded to reveal thousands of molecules that could act as drugs.

One example of these was a thiopeptide antibiotic produced by a bacteria that normally lives in the vagina.

According to the researchers while they couldn’t prove it produced the antibiotic while in the body, it did when they grew it in lab conditions.

The researchers found that the drug could kill the same types of bacteria as other thiopeptides — for instance, Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause skin infections, Nature reported.

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