Infect your Infection: Heal Thyself

Two million people each year now get hospital-borne bacterial infections, 1.4 million of them resistant to antibiotics and 90,000 of them lethal. New antibiotics are being discovered; but it takes 10 years and at least 1 billion USD to bring them to market, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Many kinds of bacteria have become antibiotic-resistant and it's becoming a great problem in the treatment of infected wounds.

A major cause of this loss of efficacy is the improper, frequent and often thoughtless use of antibiotics, which has led to the bacteria becoming resistant to them. This leads to major problems in the treatment of highly infectious bacteria such as the classical hospital pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.

Phages

Bacteriophages (aka "Phages") are viruses that kill specific strains of bacteria. They do not attack plant and animal cells or other types of bacteria, and gravitate toward wherever bacteria live, including the human body, water and even our intestines. The word phage comes from the Greek "to eat." It contains genetic material that gets injected into a virus's host. Whereas viruses infect healthy cells, phages target specific bacteria that then explode.

In the 1920s and '30s, with diseases like dysentery and cholera running rampant, the discovery of Bacteriophages was hailed as a breakthrough. But by the 1940s, American scientists stopped working with phages for treatment because they no longer had reason to. Penicillin, discovered in 1928, had become widely available thanks to synthetic production and zapped infections.

Phages do not have adverse effects on humans. They have an integrated self-regulation and proliferate as long as they have enough bacteria to live on. When they reach uninfected wound areas where no bacteria are present, they will die. This biological self-regulation is a huge advantage for the therapeutic use of phages and they can be used to combat even the most dangerous pathogens.

Where they're used

Bacteriophage therapy was continued - virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world - in Eastern Europe, most notably in the former Soviet Union. The Republic of Georgia is one of the countries that continued to focus on bacteriophage research, most likely for economic reasons. They just did not have the money to fund the relatively expensive research into antibiotics. The country's capital, Tbilisi, has become a renowned centre of bacteriophage research and treatment.

Phages are even sold there over-the-counter, where people take the popular mixture piobacteriophage, for example, to fight off common infections including staph and strep. These mixtures are updated regularly so they can attack newly emerging bacterial strains.

So Why Not?

Why do many western patients need to go to all the way to Georgia for treatment? In their natural state phages are hard to patent, the route by which drug companies lock up future profits. The first company to spend millions of dollars to prove that a particular phage is safe could allow its competitors to capitalize on the results. Then there is the difficulty of regulation. In Georgia, you send your bacterial sample to the lab, and it's either matched up with an existing phage or a phage is cultured just for you. In the US, by contrast, drugs are mass produced, which makes it easier for the FDA to regulate them.

So bureaucratic red tape and big companies' greed are the basic reason why we are not able to use this cure and many more will have to needlessly suffer. Despite the caveats, a number of phage biotechnology firms have recently opened up in the United States and also in countries like Canada and Israel.

The Future is here

Most people have never heard of bacteriophages, but now that the U.S. government has given food companies permission to spray them on food. In recent years, biotech companies began developing bacteriophage products to kill bacteria that cause food borne illness in humans and there are already multiple uses for phages without FDA approval. A promising area is agriculture and livestock. Scientists are looking at ways in which phages could kill bacteria before they cause infection. The phage R&D Company Intralytix, awaits federal approval for a phage-based wash for meat and produce that protects against food poisoning. A researcher at the Rockefeller Institute is designing a phage-based enzyme solution that can be sprayed into the noses and mouths of hospital and nursing-home patients.

Researchers are also experimenting with using phages to detect anthrax and cholera in the case of a terrorist attack. One company recently tried to open a phage center in Tijuana, Mexico but was deterred by the government. Phages might be offered someday at clinics on Native American reservations, as a casino like quirk of legislative autonomy. But for now, US patients at a loss for options may decide that the former Soviet Union is close enough.