Or maybe just a shot of alligator blood. But researchers in Louisiana say they’ve discovered unique antibiotic proteins in the blood of American alligators that can kill a wide variety of deadly bacteria, halt the spread of common infections and perhaps even stop HIV, according to The Palm Beach Post.

If they’re right and they’re able to sequence the genetics of gator blood, the researchers say superdrugs based on their findings might be available within 10 years. Why? The alligator has developed a special immune system during its long evolution, according to Lancia Darville, a Louisiana State University researcher who is scheduled to present the findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

“If you think about alligators, they usually get into a lot of fights and get cuts and bruises and torn limbs, and they live in swamps that have a whole lot of bacteria,” Darville tells the Post. “But even in the presence of all that bacteria, they (almost) never get any infections.”

The reason is that gators have unusually strong immune systems. Unlike humans, they have systems that can fight off different types of bacteria, viruses and fungi without having been exposed to them previously. And technology is taking research to new levels. Darville and others are sequencing the genetic makeup of alligator blood to figure out how to make chemicals based on it, the next step in developing new drugs.

They’ve determined that the proteins found in alligator blood can fight 23 types of bacteria, nearly three times as many as the proteins found in human blood, the Post writes, adding that possible drugs include creams that could be used to treat ulcers of diabetes patients or prevent infections in amputees, and pills to fight internal infections and bacteria. Swamp voodoo practitioners might already know about the wonders of alligator blood, but researchers caution that people shouldn’t ingest it or handle it directly.