Speaking at the American Chemical Society conference, US researchers said the discovery could also lead to treatments for severe burns and ulcers.
Alligators can suffer serious injuries during fierce territorial battles but heal quickly despite contact with bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Antibiotic resistance is on the rise yet there is a lack of new treatments.
Humans build up immunity to infection-causing organisms after coming into contact with them.
But, the Louisiana researchers said, previous work has shown alligators have a particularly strong immune system which can fight microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without being previously exposed to them.
The team collected blood samples from American alligators after injecting them with a substance to stimulate their immune systems.
They then isolated infection-fighting white blood cells and extracted antibiotic proteins.
In laboratory tests, tiny amounts of the protein extracts killed a wide range of bacteria, including MRSA.
The proteins also killed six out of eight different strains of Candida albicans - a yeast infection which can be a serious problem in people with weakened immune systems, such as AIDS patients.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7330051.stm
I also read elsewhere it may take them 10 years to make a reasonable counter drug to AIDS(that is if it makes it thru clinical trials)...let's hope that AIDS won't change too much by then to render this treatment useless.
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