Pythons Could Provide Key Ingredient for COVID-19 Vaccine

This snake oil is not “snake oil”.

The invasive Burmese python has become a big problem in the United States, especially in swampy states such as Florida. But when it comes to preventing coronaviruses, these giant snakes may be part of the solution – thanks to their medicinal snake oil.

Reptile hunters who once sought to reduce the out-of-control python population in the Everglades are now stalking predators for an entirely new reason – in search of their abundance of squalene, a lipid produced by the body’s sebaceous glands. The substance has become a key ingredient in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.

“There are some really healing properties in the snake,” said Dusty Crum, aka the “Wildman,” according to Tampa Bay Fox 13. “If you go back to mainstream medicine, they’ve been using python and python components for thousands of years,” he told a reporter last month.

Squalene is naturally present in many plants and animals, including humans, and is frequently used in skin care and cosmetics already as an emollient and skin protective antioxidant. When it comes to its medicinal applications, scientists claim that squalene aids our immune response to get the most benefit from vaccines – a therapeutic additive called an adjuvant. While the ingredient is not currently listed as part of the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccines, shark-derived squalene has been used in at least five other recipes for potential vaccines tested last year, according to data from the ‘World Health Organization.

One of the most common ways to get your hands on spare squalene is through shark liver, where oil is plentiful, but overfishing fears have prompted researchers to look for a source elsewhere.

Enter: the invasive Burmese pythons of Florida, which have wreaked havoc in the state in recent years.

“A typical 12-foot python can produce enough squalene for about 3,400 doses of vaccine,” said Daryl Thompson, spokesperson for Global Research and Discovery Group Sciences, in a statement for Fox 13.

“It’s not as much as a shark can do, but it’s much more durable,” added Thompson, who plans to present results on the squalene python to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as part of the government-backed vaccine research program last year. Lightning speed.

At the same time, Florida wildlife experts are eager to see an ethical solution to the state’s python problems.

“We take a bad situation and do something good with it,” Crum said. “It has the potential to help heal a lot of people and potentially save a lot of lives.”

However, some animal rights activists claim that hunting for python squalene only transfers a threat from one species to another.

“Harvesting something from a wild animal will never be sustainable, especially if it is a top predator that does not breed in large numbers,” said Stefanie Brendl, founder of the shark conservation group Shark Allies, in a recent statement to the Telegraph.

“We are not trying to slow down or hinder the production of a vaccine,” added Brendl. “We are simply asking that tests on non-animal squalene be carried out with shark squalene, so that it can be replaced as soon as possible.”