The present invention relates to a peptide comprising or consisting of the following amino acid sequence: A0-A1-A2-A3-A4-A5-A6-A7-A8-A9-A10-A11-A12 (formula II), wherein A0 is a hydrophobic amino acid residue or is absent A1, A4, A7, A8, A12 each are a hydrophobic amino acid residue and A2, A6, A9, A10 each are a basic amino acid residue A5 is an alanine or a basic amino acid residue A3, A11 each are a basic amino acid residue, or a hydrophobic amino acid residue or a peptidomimetic thereof wherein the basic amino acid residues are selected from the group consisting of arginine, lysine and histidine wherein the hydrophobic amino acid residues are selected from the group consisting of leucine, alanine, isoleucine, valine, methionine and phenylalanine and wherein said peptide or peptidomimetic has antimicrobial and/or antiviral activity. Furthermore, the invention relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding the peptide of the invention, a vector comprising the nucleic acid molecule as well as a host cell comprising the nucleic acid molecule or the vector. The present invention also relates to a method for producing the peptide of the invention, a composition as well as to the peptide or peptidomimetic of the invention for use in treating infectious diseases.
