Yogurt bacteria may be useful in blocking HIV transmission, providing a cheap and effective way of fighting the virus, Nature magazine said, citing a study by researchers in the U.S. and the U.K.
Lactococcus lactis, a bacterium used to produce cheese and yogurt, was altered genetically by scientists at Brown Medical School in Rhode Island and the U.K.'s Food Research institute to generate cyanovirin, a drug that has been used to stop HIV infection in the cells of monkeys and humans, Nature said on its Web site.
The bacterium is also found in the human body, including the stomach and vagina where it halts the growth of other harmful bacteria. The same principle could be applied with the genetically modified version, Nature said. The bacteria may have advantages over vaccines because it could be applied directly to peripheral areas of the body including the mucosal surfaces of the vagina, the report said.
``You need less of the therapeutic chemical if you deliver it locally,'' Lothar Steidler, a molecular biologist at Cork University in Ireland who has worked on modifying bacteria to deliver drugs, was quoted saying by Nature.com.
The bacteria can live in the vagina for as long as a week, and the scientists are working to prolong the life, the magazine said. Bharat Ramratnam, an HIV specialist at Brown in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues led the research, which is published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Nature said. The researchers will test the bacteria in monkeys.
Should the bacterium prove useful it would be a cheaper way of providing protection, an important issue for countries in Asia and Africa where AIDS and HIV are rife, the report said.
This would be an inexpensive way to slow down the spread of HIV. If this works, they should put it in all of our yogurt, like fluoride in the water.
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