A centuries-old herbal medicine, discovered by Chinese scientists and used to effectively treat malaria, has been found to potentially aid in the treatment of tuberculosis and may slow the evolution of drug resistance.
In a promising study led by Robert Abramovitch, a Michigan State University microbiologist and TB expert, the ancient remedy artemisinin stopped the ability of TB-causing bacteria, known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to become dormant. This stage of the disease often makes the use of antibiotics ineffective.
The study is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
"When TB bacteria are dormant, they become highly tolerant to antibiotics," Abramovitch said, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "Blocking dormancy makes the TB bacteria more sensitive to these drugs and could shorten treatment times."
Huiqing Zheng, et. al., Inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DosRST signaling and persistence. Nature Chemical Biology, 2016; DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2259
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday December 21 2016, @08:27PM
All I can offer is an anecdote with an antidote. I was in China and got extremely sick from something. Delirious and shitting myself kind of sick.
A doctor came in with some herbal medicine wrapped in wax balls. Very different kind of pills to say the least. BUT THEY WORKED. I'm still alive, and no longer exploding from every orifice.
I find it funny to poo poo the Chinese when we take some of their more interesting discoveries and mass produce them in energy drinks. It's good enough to keep us awake, but it's not up there with Western medicine right?
They took care of me. One data point I know, but it's not fair to denigrate all of Eastern medicine in that fashion.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 22 2016, @07:03AM