Russian scientists have discovered a substance in the red algae of the Pacific ocean that destroys part of the HIV virus.

The results of the study was published in the “International Journal of Molecular Sciences”.

Algae are said to contain carrageenan sugars that can bind to human immunodeficiency virus particles and prevent them from entering immune cells.

One of the authors of the study, Irina Ermak, a researcher at the Institute of Pacific Bioorganic Chemistry of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Vladivostok), said that sugars have no toxicity.

She said sugars have a high antiviral effect at low concentrations, especially against HIV. The substance is found in algae of the genus “Tichocarpus crinitus”.