- Bacteriophages - what are they?
- Phage therapy - what is it?
- Phage therapy and antibiotic therapy
- Treatment in the near future. What is phage therapy?Explains prof. Andrzej Górski
- Phages can't kill every bacteria yet
- Phage therapy in Poland
- What conditions must phage therapy meet to be considered a therapeutic method?
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Phage therapy (phage therapy) is about fighting bacterial infections with viruses called bacteriophages or phages. These "bacteria eaters" are effective when treatment with antibiotics, including the so-called antibiotics, fails. last resort, which are the only weapon in the fight against infections resistant to other antibiotics. Find out what phage therapy is all about.
Source: Dzień Dobry TVN / x-news
Source: Dzień Dobry TVN / x-news
Phage therapyis based on the use of phages (also known as bacteriophages, bacterial viruses), i.e. viruses capable of destroying bacteria. Phage therapy is a response to the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, which may bring us back to the times before the discovery of antibiotics. Phages are effective when treatment with antibiotics fails, including the so-called antibiotics. last chance, which are the only weapon in the fight against infections resistant to other antibiotics.
Bacteriophages - what are they?
Bacteriophages are common in nature, incl. in soils, oceans and even in hot springs - wherever there are bacteria.
Phages attack and kill only bacteria.
Therefore, phages can also be found in the human body, from which they are removed along with feces and urine. It is, among others phages used in therapy come from the wastewater. For example, in Poland, phages are most often obtained from Wrocław wastewater, although they are also delivered from exotic places, e.g. phages isolated from the water of the Kwai River and from other parts of Asia.
Phage therapy - what is it?
The first step is to multiply the phages, determine the susceptibility of a given bacterial strain to phages and create a sterile preparation that can be administered to patients. This preparation is a colorless and odorless liquid closed in an ampoule, which looks like saline. It can be applied topically, e.g. in case of nose or ear infections, it is given as drops. In a patient with a respiratory tract infection, an inhalation spray can be used, and in a patient with a wound - compresses. The phage fluid can also be used rectally, for example in the treatment of chronic prostatitis. If the liquid is used orally, water or juice is added to it as it isquite bitter.
Phage therapy should only be used in patients who are chronically infected and in whom antibiotics have failed.
After getting into a sick organism, phages "attach" to the bacteria, inject it with their own DNA and start to duplicate themselves in it. In this way, many new phages are formed in the bacteria, their own destroyers. The bacterium then breaks down, releasing multiplied phages at the site of the infection, which "devour" other bacteria.
Treatment lasts about one and a half months, although it may be longer, especially in difficult cases, e.g. in infections after orthopedic complications. The patient takes the preparation with phages at home or in the clinic. Until the end of the therapy, the patient reports regularly for follow-up visits to assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
Phage therapy and antibiotic therapy
Can bacteria become resistant to phages, as well as to antibiotics? They may, but the risk of resistance development is lower with bacteriophages than with antibiotics, because phages develop mutations that make it easier for them to adapt to mutating bacterial cells.
Therefore, phages are more effective than antibiotics and can treat infections that antibiotics cannot cope with. For example, a miner with a broken leg developed an infection, his wounds - despite the use of drugs - did not heal for months, he was in danger of being amputated.
Phages - unlike antibiotics - are characterized by the ability to self-duplicate and specificity of action, ie they attack only a specific bacterium - the "bad" one responsible for the infection.
After four weeks of using phage compresses, the lesions healed. Another example - a young woman had recurrent tonsillitis with staphylococcal tonsillitis, which disappeared only after regular gargling with phage fluid. Only one dose of phage is enough to cure a bacterial infection.
Besides, bacteriophages attack and destroy only a specific bacterium - the one responsible for the infection. "Good" bacteria, thanks to which the body functions properly, which act as guards - they make sure that "bad", pathogenic bacteria do not multiply - are not attacked by phages. Antibiotic therapy destroys both "bad" and "good" bacteria. Therefore, phage therapy is much safer for the body. It is also well tolerated by patients -the side effects of phage therapyare very rare and not very bothersome, e.g. a slight increase in body temperature that is transiently slightly increased.
Treatment in the near future. What is phage therapy?Explains prof. Andrzej Górski
Phages can't kill every bacteria yet
Phages can kill many bacteria (including last resort resistant to antibiotics), but not all.
In the near future, phage therapy has a chance to become the leading form of antibacterial therapy.
Phages are most often limited to some strains within only one species of bacteria, the scientists explain. Researchers have yet to obtain phages for the treatment of streptococcal infections ( Streptococcus ), and they do not have a suitable laboratory to deal with mycobacterial tuberculosis or chlamydia.
Phage therapy in Poland
In Poland, there is the only center in the European Union treating bacterial infections with viruses. It is the Phage Therapy Center at the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, headed by prof. Andrzej Górski.
The therapy is not covered by the NHF reimbursement. One and a half months of treatment costs over PLN 2,000. PLN and these are the costs of consultations, microbiological and diagnostic tests as well as phage preparations.
The center receives patients from many countries, incl. with infections of the respiratory tract, prostate, skin, urinary tract, bones and marrow, with infected wounds. For example, recently Polish doctors managed to cure an Italian doctor who had an infection after surgery due to a tumor of the osteoarticular system.
However, phage therapy is still an experimental therapy as no full clinical trials have been conducted. They are necessary to register preparations containing phages at the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products.
If phages were registered as a drug, they could replace antibiotics. Then treatment of the bacterial infection would be much cheaper. A day of therapy with a modern antibiotic costs about 30 euro, and with phages - about 1 euro.