IMAGE>>Public Domain

Frogs Could Help Defeat Bacterial Diseases

Researchers from
United Arab Emirates recently announced results of their frog skin
study, which identified over 100 antibiotic substances taken from frog
skin secretions. Scientists around the world collected skin secretions
from various species and sent them in for the study. The researchers
believe frog skins could potentially be used to produce new antibiotics.
One of the biochemists participating in the research explained,
“They’ve been around 300 million years, so they’ve had plenty of time
to learn how to defend themselves against disease-causing microbes in
the environment. Their own environment includes polluted waterways where
strong defenses against pathogens are a must.”
The scientists so far have identified about 200 skin secretions which
could be potential candidates for new antibiotics. They have secretions
from 6,000 species total, which means there are still a very large
number of chemicals they could find. Scientists say they take special
care not to harm the frogs when their skin secretions are sampled.
A chemical found on the skins of the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog has been determined to have potential to kill methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, which has caused deadly
infections. In 2005, there were about 18,000 deaths related to MRSA
according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The only problem so far with using the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog as
a potential source of a new antibiotic, is that its population is
nearly threatened and not always easy to locate. After a California
river dam altered a major breeding ground for the species, its
population plummeted. Researchers also suspect that pesticides are
harming their population.
Frogs around the world are facing a deadly fungal epidemic which
could wipe out many species. Recently it was reported thirty species in
Panama were eliminated by the fungus.
Research such as this underscores how important it is to preserve biodiversity.