Have you ever been called a busy bee? Bees are known for their hard work and usefulness. We eat the honey they produce and use their wax for many skin product bases.
Bee pollination also helps to produce our food supply. Aside from their painful sting, there’s little downside to having these fuzzy insects around. In fact, there’s one more reason to value the hard working honey bee, and that’s their potential to prevent a deadly virus.
Bee-lieve in The Power of Bee Venom
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered the potential of bee venom, (apitoxin,) to kill the HIV virus. This potential stems from the toxin Melittin in the venom’s nano-particles that destroy everything they come in contact with.
Some Things You Need To Know About HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that weakens your immune system by destroying cells that fight disease and infection. If HIV is not treated before severe damage is done to the immune system, it can develop into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and cause death. This is why it is important to get tested for sexually transmitted infections.
Although someone diagnosed with HIV can take HIV medications to lower the levels of the virus in his or her blood and maintain a nearly normal life expectancy, to date, there is no 100% cure recognized by the medical community.
The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to get tested. It is important to note that a HIV tests taken within a window period will not produce accurate HIV test results. The antibodies, the indicators of HIV infection, will not show up in your blood until at least three months after infection.
Signs and Symptoms For HIV
Many people live for years with the HIV virus without knowing they have it. Within two to four weeks, some people may experience flu-like symptoms from acute retro viral syndrome (ARS) as a result of the initial HIV infection. These symptoms include fever, swollen glands, sore throat, a rash, fatigue, muscle and joint aches and pains and a headache.
But again, some people are infected and have no symptoms at all, so it’s important to get tested.
Science Behind the Vaginal HIV Prevention Gel
Using this discovery, researchers have developed a gel a woman can insert in her vagina to prevent HIV infection.
The developed nano-particle technology allows the bee-venom toxins to kill the HIV virus while leaving surrounding cells intact by surround the toxin with bumpers that are big enough to bounce off human cells, but have small spaces in between that the small HIV particles can slip into to come in contact with the venom.
When the HIV virus comes in contact with the venom toxin, it ruptures HIV’s protective coating, thus stopping initial infection from this deadly virus.
Though the new technology would not cure someone who is already infected yet, researchers are well on their way to finding the cure to an infection that’s plagued humans for decades.
Sources:
http://buynongmoseeds.com/bee-venom-can-kill-the-hiv-virus/
https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/
Image Source:
http://thai-beauty-products.com/store/images/bee90.jpg
Nicole Penguin