A natural antibiotic, produced by our skin when we sweat, has been found to be a highly effective weapon against tuberculosis and other dangerous germs that are becoming increasingly resistant to the drugs used to combat them.
 

In a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of scientists described the discovery of the natural antibiotic — called dermcidin — and what makes the compound such a potent agent in the battle against resistant infections.

Although about 1,700 types of such natural antibiotics are known to exist, the new research is among the most detailed to explain how they work.
 

“Antibiotics are not only available on prescription,” noted Ulrich Zachariae, M.D., a University of Edinburgh's School of Physics researcher who took part in the study. “Our own bodies produce efficient substances to fend off bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
 

“Now that we know in detail how these natural antibiotics work, we can use this to help develop infection-fighting drugs that are more effective than conventional antibiotics."
 

The researchers explained that sweat spreads highly efficient antibiotics, such as dermcidin, onto our skin to fend off infection in the case of an injury or an insect bite. The natural substances, known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are more effective than traditional antibiotics, because germs cannot quickly develop resistance against them. As a result, AMPs hold promise as the source for a new breed of antibiotics.
 

For the new study, scientists determined the atomic structure of dermcidin and found that it can adapt to extremely variable types of germs. They said this could explain why it is such an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, able to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.
 

The compound is active against many well-known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Staphylococcus aureus, they added.