Abhishek Prasanna Wed., Sept. 23, 2017

My article is about a new study that shows that we may be able to use frog slime as a flu drug. The frog that the slime comes from is called Hydrophylax bahuvistara, and it was discovered in southern India. It has a lot of proteins in its mucus. The scientists tested 32 of these proteins, and four of these showed promise. However, all but one of them proved toxic to mammals. So, the scientists focused on the last one. The scientists named it urumin, after a sword used in the region of India where it was discovered. Urumin didn’t harm mammals. However, it seemed to give several flu viruses a hard time. Influenza viruses mutate frequently, forming new types, called strains. The family of each strain is known b a series of letters and numbers. The scientists chose common disease-causing strains. Four belonged to the H3N2 family while eight belonged to the H1N1 family. Urumin slowed the ability of H3N2 viruses reproducing. It was particularly good, however, at killing H1N1 viruses. And that’s fortunate, because these are a more common family of strains that sicken people. Mice treated with the frog slime protein also had a better chance of survival when exposed to a killer strain of flu. The slime protein even cut the reproduction of 7 strains that had all become resistant to anti-viral drugs. It will take more time to turn urumin into a true drug. But in time, it could serve as the basis for a new family of flu vaccines.