A research team at a top Thai university has embraced an animal whose very name is a curse word in hope its blood can treat COVID-19.
Jitkamol Thanasak of Mahidol University’s Veterinary Science Faculty said yesterday he has been studying monitor lizards provided by wildlife officials to see if proteins in the animal’s blood can inhibit the growth of cancerous cells, bacteria and viruses, which could, in theory, help with suppressive therapeutics for COVID-19.
The veterinary researcher said he only takes a minimal amount of blood from the animals which are then released back to nature.
Jitkamol has an ambitious vision of the benefits the much-maligned creatures, whose name hia is used as an obscene exclamation, may bring humanity. If his experiment proves his theories, he sees a future where monitor…
