Cinnamon will save disaster

The groundbreaking work of Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) can help people deal with the disaster that WHO considers "dangerous as terrorism": drug resistance.

Antibiotic abuse is gradually creating human " threats," making the world health sector headaches. Australian scientists have found the key in a familiar medicine: cinnamon .

This familiar medicinal ingredient can save people from drug-resistant microbial disasters - (photo: SHUTTERSTOCK).

The Swinburne University of Technology team tested the compound, which is the main component of cinnamon, called cinnamaldehyde (CAD) , on Pseudomonas aeruginosa - the most common cause of infection in immunocompromised patients.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa today has become a "bacterium" with surrounding biofilm, as a solid shield against the most powerful and modern antibiotics.

But the CAD in cinnamon easily penetrated this shield. Once the bacteria loses its protection, even the most common antibiotics can easily destroy them.

This precious medicinal ingredient also prevents the formation of biofilms that protect the bacteria while limiting the proliferation of " armored" strains of bacteria from the very beginning. Dr. Sanjida Topa, the head of the study, said the finding undoubtedly contributed to the search for antibiotic alternatives.

Over the years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the health sector in many countries have spent huge amounts of money to study new antibiotics, as well as alternatives to antibiotics. The reason is that there are more and more " super illnesses" that almost all antibiotics give up. The cause is abuse, misuse of antibiotics. In 2016, the WHO representative even likened to the catastrophe that drug-resistant viruses will "be as dangerous as terrorism" .