Gumballs Could Fight Bird flu

[Angel]

With a potential shortage of the drug to fight the bird flu on the horizon, scientists say they may have a solution. It comes from a seemingly unlikely source. Researchers reporting at this week's meeting of the American Chemical Society say the fruit from the sweetgum tree could be the answer to saving thousands of lives.

The fruit often called gumballs is a great source of shikimic acid, the material used in the production of the drug oseltamirir (Tamiflu) to treat bird flu.

Researchers say until a vaccine is created, this treatment could save lives.

With the demand for Tamiflu on the rise, exerts fear for a potential shortage in case of a pandemic of the bird flu. The problem, they say, is that shikimic acid is currently derived primarily from the Chinese star anise fruit. As the demand for the bird flu drug increases, the quantity of star anise declines.

Now that researchers know sweetgum trees provide the same benefit as the Chinese star anise fruit, the shortage crisis may be averted. The sweetgum tree grows throughout the United States as well as in other parts of the world. It is most abundant in the South and can be found as far west as Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Shikimic acid is found in the fruit as well as in the leaves and bark. To optimize the extraction, researchers say the fruit should be harvested when they are green and before the seeds have been dispersed. When used to its fullest, each tree can hold hundreds or even thousands of seedpods.

According to the World Health Organization, 186 people worldwide have been infected with the bird flu and more than half have died. With an increasing number of reports on the spread of the virus in the bird population, public health officials worry over the potential of a pandemic of the disease.