Frog skin mucus hosts anti-peptides that kill the H1 influenza virus.

Frogs not only eat pests, but may also help us fight the flu.
U.S. and Indian researchers said Wednesday they have found an ingredient in the skin mucus of some frogs that could be used to kill the H1 flu virus.
Researchers report in the new issue of the American Journal of Immunization that host-resistant peptides previously known to protect frog skin from bacterial infections, but they found 32 host-resistant peptides from a colorful, tennis-ball-sized frog in southern India, four of which were also antiviral.
three of the four antiviral peptides are toxic to human cells and only one is safe to use.
researchers named the non-toxic peptide "Ulumy peptide" based on an Indian classic soft sword, Ulumy.
researchers said that "Urumide" can resist a variety of influenza viruses, especially H1 influenza virus, but not H3N2 and other influenza viruses.
the use of "urumides" in unvaccinated mice, the influenza virus, which can withstand a lethal dose, does not die.
electron microscope observations showed that urumeptide binds to the protein hemocoagulant on the surface of the influenza virus, thereby amusing the toxicity of the flu virus and preventing the virus from invading human cells.
Josh Jacobs, an associate professor at Emory University in the United States and one of the study's authors, said the antiviral peptide may come in use when new strains of the flu virus appear and no vaccine is available, or when an epidemic strain becomes resistant to existing drugs.
but the researchers also stress that they have only demonstrated that the peptides secreted by frog skin are antiviral, but that more research is needed to see if it can play a preventive role in humans.
, they are also studying whether the peptide can kill Zika and dengue viruses.
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