Carl Zimmer "A World Full of Viruses"

[brenda]

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Viruses-Carl-Zimmer/dp/0226983358

Has anyone heard of him and this book? He was on a radio show last night called Science Friday on MPR broadcast in Berlin from the US for military personel stationed abroad.

He says that for every bacteria there is a virus which will destroy it and for every virus there is another virus which will destroy it.

He says that this method of treatment was devoloped in Russia after the rest of the world became obsessed with anti-biotics. I have not read the book but am tempted to buy it having Lyme Disease and struggling to treat myself.

 

[Glynis Steele]

Hi Brenda,

I believe this is called phage therapy. Bacteriophages are viruses that lyse or break open bacteria thus destroying them. They fell out of favour when antibiotics were discovered, but phage therapy is still practised in Russia, I think. I believe there might be trials underway, try googling phage therapy, to see whether there is anything happening in your area. Evergreen College in the US was using them, and I think there was some interest in the UK, but I cannot remember whereabouts. Here are some links to get you started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage

http://www.phageinternational.com/phagetherapy/whitepapers.htm

Glynis x

 

[Purple]

Prof Vincent Racaniello wrote/recorded a show about this topic on his blog recently:
http://www.virology.ws/2011/05/06/t...herapy-with-bacteriophage-reality-or-fiction/

I haven't listened to it myself, but I hope it may be of interest.

 

[brenda]

Thanks for the replies. Glynis thats it. Hey I live in Durham!

Brenda

 

[Glynis Steele]

Fancy that, Brenda, I actually live in Burnopfield, the post code is Newcastle, but our Council is Derwentside. We are coming to Durham Hospital on Wednesday, as our daughter has an appointment there.

Do you know whether a Dr Speight still sees (children) ME patients? I had heard that he is retired, but I think he is still patron of some ME support groups up here. Not that our daughter has ME, but he was our Paediatric Consultant when she was born.

Funny old world, eh.

BW

Glynis x

 

[brenda]

Hi Glynis

I have no idea if he is still there but I think I heard he is not - so not sure. He saw one of my children with ME. Its a pity if he is not there now. I live in Framwellgate Moor but am in Germany for a few weeks. Otherwise I might have asked if you wanted to meet up.

Brenda

 

[Sherlock]

Hi, take a look at this incredible short animation of a T4 bacteriophage, commissioned IIRC by the National Science Foundation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41aqxcxsX2w

Just going from casual memory:

In India, hospital workers go to the nearby polluted river, and take out buckets of water. They eventually isolate the bacteriophages, and use them to disinfect the hospital from the dreaded MRSA. I don't recall that they use them in patients, because some unrecalled reason makes that unfeasible.

If you added up all the bacteriophages in the oceans, they would weigh more than all the elephants on the planet.

Btw, there are also electron micrographs somewhere that do show that incredible structure of the T4s.