Milking the fierce Tasmanian devil has to be done “very, very carefully and with a lot of safety gear” Getty ImagesThe Tasmanian devil may hold the key to solving the spread of superbugs, according to researchers at the University of Sydney. Milk produced by the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial contains antimicrobial peptides that can kill fungal infections as well as bacteria that are immune to antibiotics — and the challenge now is to replicate these compounds for medicinal use. The Tasmanian devil was hunted almost to extinction before being declared a protected species in 1941. The numbers bounced back but in recent years up to 80 per cent of the population has been wiped out by the highly contagious devil…

Source: The Times October 17, 2016 15:56 UTC