MEXICO – The University of Guadalajara (UDG) found, in a recent  research study, that bee venom known as apitoxin helps the immune system of people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.

In an interview with the News Agency of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), the researcher Sergio Alvarez Barajas explained that they worked with a group of 28 infected people who willingly cooperate in the investigation.  Everyone who was participated in the research had to provide a document copy that guarantees that one is HIV positive and have their first clinical results with levels of CD4 and CD8 analysis.

Barajas said that they did a poison tolerance test, and a solution with a certain concentration of poison, where each patient took 15 drops a day, five before each meal.

CD4 and CD8 cells are types of lymphocytes that are part of the human’s immune system.  Sick people with AIDS or HIV positive are normally deficient in the number of CD4 while CD8 is increased.

The researcher said that is why the measurement of these cells helps doctors determine the mechanisms of retroviral in patient and disease progression.

The results in the laboratory study group showed an increase in the number of CD4, with respect to the results of the first analysis, and decreased CD8, which is favorable compared to retroviral treatments, said the biologist.

Measuring the effectiveness of treatment with bee venom is done quarterly, and according to research, the result is the same every time, that is, there is always an increase in the number of lymphocytes in the immune system of the patient.

This situation is due to melittin, active substance of bee venom, and antibiotics that it possess, as a whole they particularity are not capable in generating a memory in the human body.  This substance can be produced synthetically, but does not have the same effect as the natural version.

According to the scientist, when one is bitten by a scorpion, the body keeps some memory of the venom so that if the same type of scorpion bites a second time, the reaction generated in the body is much lower than in the first time, and if this happens a third time, the scorpion sting hardly has any negative effect in you.

However, this is not the case with the bee’s venom. The body does not retain any memory of such poison, so each sting produces the same reaction.

The researcher lamented that despite the benefits of the metabolites found in bee venom the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) prohibits their use in medicines.

Source: CONACYT