It is understood that the drugs developed so far cannot kill the AIDS virus (HIV) without ensuring that they do not harm the body’s normal cells, but only delay its reproduction.
The latest research, however, shows that the main chemical in bee venom, bee venom peptide, can pierce the protective outer layer of HIV and kill the virus. In previous experiments, researchers found that using bee venom alone would cause damage to normal cells in the body, but injecting the bee venom peptides into nanoparticles allowed them to bounce off normal cells, thus avoiding injury to them.
A study reported that bee venom peptides kill smaller HIV viruses, and when they meet them, the material slips between the buffers and attacks HIV, meaning that bee venom peptides could be effective in curbing the spread and reproduction of HIV.
Based on this research, scientists are now working to develop drugs to curb HIV. Joshua Hood, the medical school expert who co-authored the study, intends to use bee venom to make a gel that prevents the spread of HIV and drop it in areas where the disease is rampant as a preventive measure to stop the initial HIV infection.
“Theoretically, there isn’t any way for HIV to adapt to the bee venom attack yet because it’s the physical properties of HIV that we’re disrupting.” Joshua Hood is very confident about its findings. However, some scholars point out that even if bee venom can kill HIV, it will take time for it to move toward clinical application