抗生素（antibiotics）是由微生物（包括细菌、真菌、放线菌属）或高等动植物在生活过程中所产生的具有抗病原体或其它活性的一类次级代谢产物，能干扰其他生活细胞发育功能的化学物质。

Cockroaches are usually associated with rotting food, festering smells and dirt, not the antiseptic environment for a medical laboratory.

But according to scientists, these cockroaches may hold the key to killing the bacteria that threaten our lives, particularly in hospitals where patients are too weak and vulnerable to fight infections.

Cockroaches rely on decomposing rubbish to survive. They crawl among germs and disease. But they don't die, they thrive in unsanitary conditions.

Scientists say its not surprising cockroaches developed ways of protecting themselves against micro-organisms by secreting their own antimicrobials. Their secret to staying alive is in their brains and nervous system.

A team at Britain's University of Nottingham discovered in Cockroaches' brains nine different molecules that are toxic to bacteria.

Lead researcher Dr. Naveed Khan came to Pakistan because he believes the cockroaches here will have a much stronger antibiotic than those found in European infestations.

"These species, these organisms are surviving in an environment where we cannot even imagine inhabitting. The question is how come these things are able to survive in these conditions in some of the filthiest places known to man, yet they're not being killed by the problem of the superbug. So given the hypothesis, given the uniqueness, this nature of this material that we're obtaining, we are pretty optimistic that we will come across something novel and will be potent against some of these bugs."

E. coli and MRSA and other bacteria are becoming hard to treat because they've become so resistant to drugs already on the market. That's why they're called superbugs.

When antibiotics were first discovered they were treated like a miracle cure to all and they became overused, but antibiotics aren't always the answer and they should be the last line for the doctors' armory.

It warned blood stream infections, urinary tract infections, lung infections were being caused in some European countries by what's become known as the "multi-multi-resistant bacteria." Khan says

"We have more than 14 million deaths annually worldwide and the worrying thing is that these numbers remained significant despite our advancements. The idea here is that we need to look for rare sources or new sources for the presence of novel new antimicrobials."

Khan insists this won't be a panacea even when it becomes available to patients. He says

"My view is that we need to have an approach where we are looking at many different ways of controlling these infections rather than focusing only on one aspect which is an anti-microbial discovery".

Dr. Ruqqaiya Siddiqui is one of those collaborating with Khan at the Aga Khan University Hospital. She hopes this study can bring new hope to human's fighting the super bacteria.

"If we could find a new compound which can treat a lot of these MRSA or E-Coli or bacterial infections here we wouldn't need to rely on such (resistant drugs). There is only one or two available at the moment, which do treat multi-drug resistant infections. So if we can find something like this, if he (Khan) can produce a compound it would be great for us. We are in desperate need of some new drugs here".

For CRI, I am Li Dong.

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