JEREMY LAURANCE, Health Editor - The Independent (U.K.)
A rare herb grown in China used to flavour duck dishes and treat infants for colic is at the centre of a worldwide search for a cure for avian flu.
Star anise, the unusual fruit of a small oriental tree, is sold in supermarkets in the UK to consumers seeking its pungent, liquorice-like flavour.
But the herb has a vital function as the source of shikimic acid from which the drug Tamiflu is made, the only defence the world currently has against the threatened flu pandemic.
Tamiflu cannot prevent infection with avian flu but it can reduce its severity. In the absence of an effective vaccine - which has not yet been developed - it is all that stands between the world and what could become a modern plague.
Yesterday it emerged that a shortage of star anise is one of the key reasons why countries ...
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Mushroom Yields First Of New Class Of Antibiotics
MICHAEL SMITH, Staff Writer - MedPage
WASHINGTON -- A small black mushroom found in the woods of northern Europe contains the first of what may be a powerful new class of antibiotics and antivirals, a researcher here says.
"I think we are looking at a whole new world of antibiotics," said Michael Zasloff, M.D., Ph.D., of Georgetown University Medical Center.
Plectasin, a peptide derived from a fungus called Pseudoplectania nigrella, is as effective as penicillin and vancomycin in combating experimental peritonitis and pneumonia in mice, Dr. Zasloff and colleagues reported in the Oct. 13 issue of Nature.
The peptide is one of a class of molecules called defensins, which have previously been found in plants and animals. Plectasin is the first to be isolated from a fungus, Dr. Zasloff said.
Plectasin was tested against a range of bacteria, including streptococcus, enterococcus, and staphylococcus, Dr. Zasloff said, but other defensins have been shown ...
Saw a Star Anise thingy.
Wondered how it tasted.
It looks kinda funny, and is rather expensive here.
Heard of some new antibiotics, but didn't hear all that much about them.
Supposely they're pretty neat deals.
Capable of taking down such tough to kill things as late stage tuberculosis and drug resistant pneumonia.
The tuberculosis statement I heard may be somewhat salesmans pitch though.