COURTESY OF IM.NO.HERO VIA FLLICKR
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but what about a shot of tequila? It seems to work for fruit flies: Drosophila melanogaster seek out alcohol to kill off parasitic wasps living in their blood. Alcohol exposure also discourages the wasps from laying their eggs in the fly larvae in the first place.
The research, published today (February 16) in Current Biology, is the first evidence that animals may use alcohol to fight infection, the authors say.
“It’s an important paper in the field of self-medication,” said Michael Singer, who studies ecology and evolution at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. “It widens the scope of possibility when thinking about what sorts of animals might engage in self-medication.”
Several species are known to self-medicate: primates consume ...
