A new source for antibiotics found in… vaginal bacteria?

Science may have explored and tagged much of the visible world, but when it comes to microscopic organisms there is still much to learn, especially when it comes to how the unseen can affect our health. A study has helped uncover a new fertile source for antibiotics: The vagina.

One of the most recent significant discoveries in medical science is that of the human microbiome, the collection of microorganisms that live on our bodies at any given moment. These organisms aren’t random as once thought, and the more we learn about them, the more we learn they serve very specific purposes in our daily lives.

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Antibiotic produced by vaginal bacteria

One ability of these microorganisms may be that of antibiotic production. As they live and propagate on the human body, they are producing chemicals that help fight off potentially dangerous pathogens. An example of this can be found in a cluster of vaginal bacteria researchers say produces enzymes capable of making the antibiotic known as lactocillin.

But lactocillin is just one of many illness-fighting substances the human microbiome produces. Different clusters manufacture different chemicals, and experts from the University of California San Francisco indicate disease appears to take hold in the body when the balance of the microbiome is off kilter. If one cluster of bacteria has been depleted, it allows pathogens to take hold while those particular defenses are down.

The cluster of lactocillin-producing bacteria is just one of many currently being investigated by University of California San Fransisco Michael Fischbach and his team.

“We need to learn what these molecules are and what they are doing,” Fischbach told MNT. “This could represent a pool of molecules with many tantalizing candidates for drug therapy. It’s been clear for several years that variations and changes in the human microbiome have interesting effects on the human host, and now we can begin to determine why this is true on a molecular level.”

SEE ALSO: Common and dangerous drug interactions to be aware of

New investigative methods must be developed, however, if experts wish to truly isolate bacteria and their disease-fighting chemicals. As it stands, researchers are unable to completely reveal which molecules are made by which bacteria. They may know what clusters of bacteria are responsible, but cannot tell which bacteria in those clusters are contributing and how.

The utilization of the human microbiome may offer a way to combat antibiotic-resistance in the medical world.

Every year more and more dangerous pathogens develop strains immune to traditional medications, and the hunt is always on to prevent these diseases from causing epidemics.