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(Lake Tahoe, Nevada) Scientists have identified good bacteria already living in some humans that
target and trap HIV and may protect against infection. They reported their
findings at the 2005 American Society for Microbiology Beneficial Microbes
Conference, at Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
"I believe every life form has its natural enemy, and HIV should not be the
exception," says Dr. Lin Tao, Associate Professor of the Department of Oral
Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago. "If we
can find its natural enemy, we can control the spread of HIV naturally and
cost-effectively, just as we use cats to control mice."
The bacteria are strains of lactobacillus, commonly found colonizing the oral
and vaginal cavities of humans. They do not cause disease. They target HIV
because the virus is coated with the sugar mannose, which they use as a food
source.
"Different bacteria have different sugar preferences," says Tao.
"To block HIV, however, we needed to find bacteria that prefer the unusual
sugar mannose and thus can capture it."
To identify bacteria that target mannose, Tao and his colleagues isolated oral
and vaginal lactobacilli from healthy humans and tested the ability of different
strains to bind to baker's yeast, another microorganism coated with mannose-rich
sugars. They found a small group of lactobacilli that bound to mannose and
further testing against HIV revealed two strains that specifically trapped the
virus and blocked infection.
Due to high rates of mutation, repeated attempts at developing a vaccine to
protect against HIV have failed. Inoculating the major mucosal surfaces where
HIV transmission occurs with the HIV-capturing lactobacilli may provide a safe
and cost-efficient method for preventing the spread of HIV, says Tao.
"This method can protect infants against HIV in breast milk and women
against HIV upon sexual contact unobtrusively and inconspicuously via fermented
foods or feminine products," says Tao. "If the method can be
successfully developed and applied, the global spread of HIV can be controlled
rapidly, effectively and safely."
"The major roadblock in the development of this technology is the lack of
financial support. Drug companies and venture capitalists are not interested
because the beneficiary populations are infants and women in poor
countries," says Tao. He is currently seeking sponsorship from charities or
philanthropists to develop this technology.
The American Society for Microbiology, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the
largest single life science association, with 42,000 members worldwide.
©365Gay.com 2005
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