Fur of Costa Rican sloths may harbour antibiotic-producing bacteria: Study

Researchers believe that new antibiotics can be discovered from the fur of Costa Rican sloths as they may harbour antibiotic-producing bacteria. The theory has come up after experts noticed that these tropical animals never get sick and appear to be surprisingly infection-proof. 

Scientists hope that they may find a solution to the growing problem of "superbugs", which are resistant to medicines that are available to us. 

Max Chavarria of the University of Costa Rica told the news agency AFP that the sloths have a unique biotope of insects, algae and bacteria in their coats, that apparently protects them. 

Chavarria took fur samples taken from sloths at the sanctuary to examine in his laboratory for the research, which began in 2020, and has already pinpointed 20 "candidate" microorganisms waiting to be named. 

But he said there is a long road ahead in determining whether the sloth compounds could be useful to humans. 

The study, published in the journal Environmental Microbiology, has found that the sloth fur is hosting different communities of microbes, but some of which could pose disease risks. 

Chavarria told the news agency: "If you look at the sloth's fur, you see movement: you see moths, you see different types of insects... a very extensive habitat." 

He said, "Obviously when there is co-existence of many types of organisms, there must also be systems that control them." 

For further analyses, Chavarria with his team took fur samples from Costa Rican two- and three-toed sloths to understand it better and found that the possible existence of antibiotic-producing bacteria that "makes it possible to control the proliferation of potentially pathogenic bacteria... or inhibit other competitors" such as fungi. 

In Costa Rica, the sloth is a national symbol. These slo-mo animals are a major tourist attraction in the Central American country. Sloths are mostly found hanging from tall trees in cloud and rain forests and can also be seen some of them tucked onto a tree branch. 

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species stated that both the two-toed (Choloepus Hoffmanni) and three-toed (Bradypus variegatus) sloth species have seen their populations decline. 

AFP report also mentioned Judy Avey, an American who runs a sanctuary in the balmy jungle to care for injured sloths. The animals often get injured after coming into contact with humans or other animals, and the report mentioned that Avey treats and rehabilitates the creatures with a view to releasing them back into the wild. 

She told AFP: "We've never received a sloth that has been sick, that has a disease or has an illness. We've received sloths that had been burned by power lines and their entire arm is just destroyed... and there's no infection." 

"I think maybe in the 30 years (we've been open), we've seen five animals that have come in with an infected injury. So that tells us there's something going on in their... bodily ecosystem," Avey added. 

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