“Bee venom contains a potent toxin called melittin that can poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV, and other viruses. Large amounts of free melittin can cause a lot of damage. Indeed, in addition to anti-viral therapy, the paper’s senior author, Samuel A. Wickline, MD, the J. Russell Hornsby Professor of Biomedical Sciences, has shown melittin-loaded nanoparticles to be effective in killing tumor cells. The new study shows that melittin loaded onto these nanoparticles does not harm normal cells. That’s because Hood added protective bumpers to the nanoparticle surface. When the nanoparticles come into contact with normal cells, which are much larger in size, the particles simply bounce off. HIV, on the other hand, is even smaller than the nanoparticle, so HIV fits between the bumpers and makes contact with the surface of the nanoparticle, where the bee toxin awaits.”
—Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV
If this study holds a lot of scientific weight, that’s fucking amazing. Nanoparticles have been showing nothing but great promises for the field of virology it seems.
This disease's deadliest weapon is the fact you've never heard of it..
A deadly fungal infection has been spreading across western North America. The number of human and animal cases has grown rapidly in recent years, to the extent that government agencies in US and Canada have labelled the infection an outbreak.
The infection, cryptococcosis, affects the lungs first, because it is acquired by inhaling fungal spores. In the absence of therapy and sometimes despite it, the infection quickly spreads to the brain and other organs, with often fatal consequences. During this outbreak in the US, about a third of those who catch the disease succumb to it. Those infected with the disease have to undergo antifungal drug therapy that can last months. But those drugs often fail to curtail the disease, forcing many to opt for surgery.
