Ento-musings from the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology


Monday, September 20, 2010

Cockroach nerve tissue

 Cockroaches live in some of the dirtiest places on earth and are exposed to some nasty bacteria like E.coli. However, they rarely succumb to said bacteria. And as it turns out cockroach (and some locusts) have nerve cells, which while harmless to humans, kill almost 100% of E.coli and the antibiotic resistant staph. The researchers were surprised to find out the blood, muscle and fat cells don't seem to affect the bacteria, which is very puzzling. The scientists became interested in this very strange attribute when it was noticed that solders returning from the Middle East had strange infections yet the insects that inhabited the area were seemingly immune. Cockroaches and other pest insects like locusts have been pests to humans for hundreds of thousands of years but now they may be a great asset to us in our struggle with those other things that have always been with us... deadly bacteria



Source http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63286/title/Cockroach_brains,_coming_to_a_pharmacy_near_you

1 comment:

  1. I hadn't heard about this. I've always heard that crocodiles are also highly resistant to infections. Maybe someday we'll be taking daily vitamins derived from gator and cockroach tissue. Pretty cool!

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