An ingredient that destroys the virus was found in frog mucus

A compound discovered in the protective mucus of a species of Indian frog destroys the flu virus and could become a powerful drug in the fight against it. The substance is actually a peptide, and it cured mice of lethal doses of human flu, scientists reported in the journal Immunity. They hope to develop this ingredient and others like it into antiviral drugs.

'This peptide kills viruses. It literally destroys them,' he told NBC. Josh Jacob, an immunologist and fellow at Emory University in Atlanta who led the research. What delighted the experts was the fact that the ingredient does not destroy healthy tissue. 'There are no collateral victims,' said Jacob.

A team of experts discovered the peptide in the skin mucus of the frog Hydrophylax bahuvistara, which can be found mostly in India today. Like most frogs, this species releases various substances into its mucus to protect itself from bacteria and fungi that attack it. The mechanisms by which this molecule destroys the influenza virus, which does not even affect the frog species, are not entirely clear.

Jacob thinks it's a coincidence: 'Frogs have it to fight some other attack that is fatal to their survival.' They called it urumin, after the Indian sword.

dr. Jacob works with an expert team of scientists at the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology in Poojapura, where they continuously tested one substance at a time on bacteria in search of new antibiotics.

Quite by accident, they decided to try the slime on viruses as well. "I tested the components of the mucus one by one on the flu virus," said Jacob, adding that the peptides are not difficult to produce synthetically in the laboratory.

This particular peptide works against the H1 flu virus, which is part of the H1N1 subtype, the flu that caused the 2009 pandemic, and other seasonal flus. It does not work against other types such as H3N2 and type B.

However, scientists believe that other ingredients in frog mucus will do the job and help fight other viruses, such as HIV, hepatitis, Zika and Ebola. 'It's just a matter of looking and finding. The difficult part is to find mucus ingredients that do not harm human cells,' he said, reports Jutarnji.