Super bugs resistant to existing antibiotics are a growing health problem around the world. Now, scientists believe they've found a possible solution in oysters. Marine scientist Kirsten Benkendorff says the research was sparked because oysters have strong immune defences.
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00:00We've found that the blood of the oyster has some interesting antimicrobial proteins and
00:07they're quite good at killing certain bacteria like Streptococcus which causes a lot of respiratory
00:12illnesses.
00:13But we've also found that the oyster blood works with antibiotics and it means that you
00:19can use antibiotics at lower doses than you would if you were just using the antibiotic
00:24alone.
00:25Okay, so when you say oyster blood Kirsten, what is that?
00:29Because oysters don't really bleed in the way we think of bleeding, do they?
00:33Yes, they have a fluid that they pump through their body that includes their immune cells
00:39and a lot of antimicrobial proteins and things that they use for their immune system.
00:43It's actually often blue in colour or a light sort of clear cloudy sort of colour and yeah
00:48it's just packed full of goodness.
00:51So you mentioned respiratory conditions there.
00:55How urgent is it to find different antibiotic treatments?
00:59Yeah, so basically we've got a serious problem in the world at the moment.
01:03There's antibacterial resistant bacteria in every hospital throughout the world.
01:07So it's quite a serious problem and respiratory infections, they kill large numbers of particularly
01:13children and older people every year, so up to five million or so.
01:17And the problem actually seems to be getting worse.
01:19So we really do need to find new drugs that can attack these antibacterial resistant bacteria.
01:24And the resistance has come from just the numbers of people who are using antibiotics,
01:29is it?
01:30Yeah, mostly from overuse of these antibiotics and I think the real value of the oyster blood
01:37is that you can actually treat potentially in lower doses and part of the problem is
01:42these bacteria, they attach to the surfaces of the respiratory organs to the lungs and
01:46the vessels and when they attach they can form these biofilms where they basically build
01:51up these colonies and they form a little protective coating and the antibiotic can't
01:56get in and attack the bacteria.
01:59So these antimicrobial proteins from the oysters, I think they help break through that biofilm
02:03because they can actually kill the bacteria inside the biofilm, which a lot of antibiotics
02:08can't do.
02:09So over 90% of antibiotics currently in use are derived from nature.
02:14So what led you to look at oysters as another potential source?
02:19Yes, so nature has been a great source of antimicrobial compounds, but oysters are particularly
02:24interesting because they're filter feeding organisms.
02:26So they're pumping large volumes of water, which include bacteria, through their bodies
02:30every day.
02:31So they have to have a really good first line of defence to actually kill any potential
02:35pathogens.
02:36But in addition to that, oysters have actually been used as traditional remedies by a lot
02:40of cultures around the world.
02:42So they're generally regarded as healthy food, but they have also been used, for example,
02:46in traditional Chinese medicine specifically to treat respiratory problems.
02:50So yeah, that was a real sort of lead to investigating these organisms.
02:54So what happens from here, Kirsten, where does your research go?
02:57Yeah, so I think the next important step is to really look at purifying the antimicrobial
03:03protein and getting a quality controlled product that we can develop into either a nutraceutical
03:11or a pharmaceutical, which might be a combinatorial therapy when it's combined with some of those
03:15other antibiotics.
03:17And then we'd be looking at testing it in an animal model.
03:19So we've tested in cell culture, but we really need to do those tests in animal models to
03:24demonstrate that it's working effectively.