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Zinc starves lethal bacteria to stop infections

Zinc can “starve” one of the world’s most deadly bacteria by preventing its uptake of an essential metal.

The bacteria, Streptococcus pneumoniae, causes pneumonia, meningitis, and other serious infectious diseases and is thought to be responsible for more than one million deaths a year.

Zinc can shut down a protein transporter in the bacteria so it cannot take up manganese, an essential metal that enables the bacteria to invade and cause disease in humans.

Read more at University of Adelaide

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