WHAT IS PHAGE THERAPY?
Phage therapy is the use of bacteriophages, deactivated viruses, to treat pathogenic bacterial infections. Prior to the discovery and widespread use of antibiotics, it was suggested that bacterial infections could be prevented and treated by the administration of bacteriophages. Today, this suggestion is being revisited and is thought of as the solution to drug resistance.
AT A GLANCE
The emergence of resistant bacteria has become a critical problem in today.
Thus, researchers are searching for an alternative, fearing the consequences of a post-antibiotic era. In fact, the development of new options has become one of the highest priorities of modern medicine and biotechnology. One of these options is phage therapy.
HOW BACTERIOPHAGES REPLICATE
Although many phage therapy studies did not follow Western protocols, the overall evidence suggesting phage therapy’s usefulness, when used appropriately, is still significant. In a 1983 study, several hundred patients with drug resistant bacterial infections were treated with phage therapy. Overall the study had a 92.4 percent success rate. Most recently, a 2009 double-blind Phase II clinical study showed that phages are safe and effective for treating chronic drug-resistant ear infections, thus hinting as at a promising future.
Phages work by infiltrating bacteria and destroying them from within. After latching onto a bacterium, the phage bores inside and hijacks the bacterium’s machinery. This turns the bacterium into a phage factory that eventually generates so many copies that the cell bursts, thus killing the host cell. Phage therapy can be very effective, since it has some particular advantages over traditional medications. Despite the fact that bacteria also develop resistance to phages, but it is exceptionally easier to develop new bacteriophages than it is to develop new antibiotic. In fact, only a few weeks to are needed to generate new phages, while years are needed for antibiotics. As bacteria evolve and gain resistance, bacteriophages can naturally evolve as well. Phages also have a unique edge since they are not susceptible to secondary resistance, which often develops in antibiotics. With rising numbers of resistant bacteria and a decline in the creation of medications to combat them, there is a definite need for phage therapy.
