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Her Husband Was Dying From A Superbug. She Turned To Sewer Viruses Collected By The Navy.

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Phage therapy was very big in Russia, and probably still is. Most biology courses that go into viruses will at least briefly mention phages. I proposed ME might be actually caused by a phage many years ago, but there was no way to prove it. If a phage infected our gut bacteria, for example, they would be abnormal, as in sick, and we would not have antibodies for the phage, and unless we were looking for viral genomes we would miss it.
 

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
Phage therapy is great in principle in that it is very selective.
It is bad in that it is very selective.
You not only often need a phage targetting that particular bacteria, but a particular strain of the bacteria in question - others will be completely immune.
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
Phage therapy was very big in Russia, and probably still is. Most biology courses that go into viruses will at least briefly mention phages. I proposed ME might be actually caused by a phage many years ago, but there was no way to prove it. If a phage infected our gut bacteria, for example, they would be abnormal, as in sick, and we would not have antibodies for the phage, and unless we were looking for viral genomes we would miss it.
I watched a documentary many years ago about the labs in Georgia, USSR, that produced the phage treatments for bacterial infections. It was very interesting.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
I watched a documentary many years ago about the labs in Georgia, USSR, that produced the phage treatments for bacterial infections. It was very interesting.

We may have watched the same documentary. Was is the BBC program called Horizon? I was amazed at the effectiveness of the therapy.

The hospitals in Georgia didn't have the same outbreaks that often occured in western hospitals. If a nasty infection was found in a patient the lab techs would collect raw sewage from the hospital outflow where it was dumped into the nearby river. They would then add the sewage to a dish with the bacteria infecting the patient and would (always?) find something that would overcome the bacteria. Then they would culture it and give it to the patient to treat the infection. It was such a simple and effective therapy.
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
We may have watched the same documentary. Was is the BBC program called Horizon? I was amazed at the effectiveness of the therapy.

The hospitals in Georgia didn't have the same outbreaks that often occured in western hospitals. If a nasty infection was found in a patient the lab techs would collect raw sewage from the hospital outflow where it was dumped into the nearby river. They would then add the sewage to a dish with the bacteria infecting the patient and would (always?) find something that would overcome the bacteria. Then they would culture it and give it to the patient to treat the infection. It was such a simple and effective therapy.
I have no idea now what the show was called as it was quite a while ago since I watched it. But it definitely sounds like the same show. There was someone here in Canada who went to Georgia after the fall of the USSR who was interested in bringing this therapy here to British Columbia, but I've never heard anything since so I'm guessing it didn't work out.
 

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
so I'm guessing it didn't work out.

It's got major problems.

It really doesn't fit with the way medicines are approved today in the US (or EU, or similar countries).
Phages are viruses that infect bacteria. Only bacteria - they can't infect humans.

They can kill specific bacteria - but the bacteria can rapidly evolve round their attacks, or the strain of bacteria you want to kill can be not quite right.
In order to get it to work, you need a cocktail of rapidly isolated viruses, and to be able to culture the bacteria that you want to kill - or you can't get enough phage, and you need to be able to get these to patients rapidly - without much approval process.

I strongly recommend http://www.microbe.tv/twim/6-antibacterial-therapy-with-bacteriophage/
On episode #6 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Cliff, Michael and Elio review the use of bacteriophages to manage infections, and the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteriophages from urban sewage and river water.

http://www.microbe.tv/twim/43-bacterial-caveolae-and-zapping-acne-with-phages/ on acne treatment with phages.

Also http://www.microbe.tv/twim/59-are-viruses-part-of-our-immune-system/ , where it's discussed as you may expect - if viruses are part of our gut immune system.

Phages are not always completely harmless.
http://iai.asm.org/content/70/8/3985
DISCOVERY OF PHAGE-ENCODED VIRULENCE FACTORS
 
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