WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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When you've got a bacterial infection,
like pinkeye or strep throat, your doctor

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will usually write a prescription for
antibiotics to make you feel better.  But

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have you ever wondered where these
medicines come from?  Most drugs come from

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flowers and plants on land but finding
new sources is difficult and some

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bacteria have become resistant to a few
of these drugs.

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So much, in fact, that these drugs don't
work anymore.  The ocean with its amazing

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biodiversity offers many more organisms
for scientists to discover and develop

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new medicines.  NOAA scientists have been collecting and studying sponges, corals,

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and other marine organisms.  They and
their partners discovered a chemical

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that breaks down the shield that
bacteria use to protect themselves from

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antibiotics.  Used as a helper drug,
antibiotics that are no longer effective

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but once again be able to fight off
these resistant bacteria.  NOAA scientists

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have also extracted chemicals from
corals and sponges that fight some of

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the worst infectious bacteria.
In order to make these new antibiotics,

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scientists make copies of these
chemicals in a laboratory.  This way they

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won't have to constantly harvest corals
from the ocean, leaving our marine

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ecosystems healthy and intact.  The ocean may hold the key for finding new

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medicines, but not if we don't keep it
and everything that lives there

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healthy and pollution-free.  Do your part
to protect coral reefs.  Do not buy coral

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jewelry or home decor and when
snorkeling, fishing, or scuba diving, be

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careful to not touch or disrupt coral
beds or the sea floor.  The next cure

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could be hidden there!