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Could This Dragon Save Your Life?

Scientists looking for life-saving medicines have found a surprising helper: the killer Komodo dragon.  

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    How about a trip to Indonesia? This country is a large group of islands located north of Australia. And it’s a beautiful place. It has thick, tropical rainforests and peaceful, sandy beaches.

    Just watch out for 10-foot-long lizards that can kill you with one bite

    That’s a pretty good description of Komodo dragons. They’re the largest lizards on Earth. And they can be deadly. They attack pigs, deer, cowsand, yes, sometimes humans. They rip big wounds in their prey with their sharp teeth. Each bite delivers a poison that makes their victims gush blood.

    But Komodo dragons aren’t just killers. Scientists think they have a very special power

    And that special power may teach us how to save millions of human lives.

Super Strong

    Komodo dragons are incredibly tough creatures. They often eat the rotting bodies of dead animals. These bodies are filled with tiny germs called bacteria. In most creatures, eating these bacteria would cause deadly diseases. But Komodo dragons don’t get sick

    How do these giant lizards fight off germs? Scientists recently found the answer. Komodo dragon blood contains special chemicals that protect it from bacteria. And that might be great news for humans.

Helping Humans

    For most of human history, certain bacteria could be deadly. The tiny germs caused diseases like pneumonia and cholera. These diseases had no cure. If wounds became infected, there was nothing doctors could do. Even a small cut could kill a person.

    In 1928, scientists won a major battle against bacteria. They discovered antibioticsmedicines that kill germs. The first antibiotic was called penicillin, and it saved millions of lives.

    But recently some germs have become resistant to antibiotics. That means the antibiotics no longer work on the germs

    Every year these resistant germs kill nearly 700,000 people around the world. In 30 years, that number could rise to 10 million.

    This is where the Komodo dragon’s special blood comes in. Scientists want to use it to make new medicines. They hope these new drugs will be able to stop even the toughest infections.

Wonder Drugs

    The Komodo dragon isn’t the only fierce creature that may help save lives. The taipan is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. Scientists think its poison might help stop wounds from bleeding. In Mexico, experts have been studying deadly scorpions. Poison from their stingers may help fight cancer

    One scary snake is already saving people with heart problems. The Brazilian pit viper has a poison that makes its victims pass out. That way the viper can eat themhead first. But that same poison can keep people alive. A medicine made with it helps treat a disease called high blood pressure. The medicine is used by 40 million people a year.

    Chances are the pit viper medicine is only the beginning. Bryan Fry is a scientist who studies Komodo dragons. He thinks strange creatures like the dragon have a lot more to offer. That’s where thewonder drugs of tomorrow will be found,” he told the Washington Post newspaper

    So if you see a Komodo dragon or a pit viper, maybe you should say thank youfrom a safe distance.

Susan Schmitz/Shutterstock.com (Taipan); Agustin Esmoris/Minden Pictures (Scorpion); Vampflack/Shutterstock.com (Pit Viper)

This Mold Has Saved Millions

The surprising story behind penicillin, the medicine that changed the world 

Phil Degginger/Getty Images 

    Alexander Fleming wasn’t the neatest guy around. He worked as a scientist in London, and his lab was always a mess. He told his friends he kept it that way on purpose. He worked with tiny germs called bacteria. His job was to study how they grow. Keep the germs around for a while, and interesting things could happen.

    In the summer of 1928, Fleming came back from vacation. Dishes full of bacteria lay piled on his lab bench. He got out a magnifying glass and examined each one. They looked a little like last week’s dinner leftovers. Fuzzy green mold sprouted from the sides of the dishes

    Suddenly, one of the dishes caught his eye. It should have been covered in bacteria. But the mold had stopped the germs from spreading. “That’s funny,” Fleming said.

    It was more than funny. That disgusting green mold was penicillin. And it would soon be used to save millions of lives

Underwood Archives/Shutterstock (Alexander Fleming); Historia/Shutterstock (Penicillin)

Big Discovery
Alexander Fleming (left) was a scientist.In 1928, he noticed that a green mold called penicillin could stop germs from spreading.

A Wartime Weapon

    Fleming’s discovery wasn’t put to use right away. It took about 13 years to make medicine from the penicillin mold

    And that medicine came just in time.

    In 1944, World War II was being fought around the globe. Doctors struggled to help wounded soldiers. When the wounds became infected, doctors usually gave up. There was no way to stop bacteria from spreading. Usually, an infection meant death.

    That year, a factory in New York started producing penicillin by the gallon. By the war’s end, the medicine had been used to treat more than 100,000 soldiers.

    Since then, penicillin has been used to cure tuberculosis, pneumonia, scarlet fever, strep throat, and other diseases. It has probably saved about 200 million lives

    And we owe it all to the messy habits of Alexander Fleming.

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