Saturday, May 19, 2007

Gallium may have anti-biotic properties

Why this didn't get a bit more high profile coverage by the MSM is a mystery.

MedPageToday
The metal gallium -- approved as a drug by the FDA to treat symptomatic cancer-related hypercalcemia -- may also be useful as an anti-microbial, according to researchers here.

The metal appears to act as a "Trojan horse" to bacteria, taking the place of iron that the microbes need to grow and replicate, said Pradeep K. Singh, M.D., of the University of Washington.

In mice, doses of the metal administered nasally were able to prevent death from a lethal dose of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the researchers reported online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, in advance of the April print issue[...]

No comments: