Ouch! Bee stings can cure HIV, scientists suggest

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Bees are misjudged by their painful stings, but researchers have discovered that venoms from bee stings are potent to relieve pain and diseases and kill virus while leaving the cell of the body unharmed.

In the article posted in HealthDay, people are using bee venoms or bee stings to relieve diseases and pain. In 1998, researchers at Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in Greece reported that bee stings greatly slowed down the progress of the arthritis-like disease in rats.

Also, along with the researchers at the Montreal General Hospital, reported that the venom slows down the production of interlukin-1, a compound that helps fuel pain and inflammation in arthritis.

Aside from these, scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine of St. Louis likewise found that a toxin found in the venom of a bee, called melittin, can physically destroy the HIV virus.

This scientific breakthrough may potentially lead to drugs that are immune to HIV resistance and was published in the Journal of Antiviral Therapy.

According to USNews, scientists used nanoparticles where they attached melittin for transport. Nanoparticles are physically smaller than HIV, which is smaller than the cells of the body. Melittin rips holes in the outer layer of the virus making it unable to develop a resistance to substance and destroys it. Thus, making it more effective than other anti-HIV drugs.

Based on the finding, scientists proposed that melittin-loaded nanoparticles are well-suited for use as a topical vaginal HIV virucidal agents and likewise, theoretically, can also be injected into an HIV-positive to eliminate the virus in the bloodstream.

Joshua Hood, one of the authors of the study said his statement, "Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this preventive measure to stop initial infection."

However, even if how many powerful drugs that can fight off HIV, there is always the basic rule one must have to follow, abstinence. And better yet still, prevention is better than cure.