Renewed Interest In Phages - an Old Therapy: Phages or Bacteriophages Came Before Antibiotics Were Discovered

Before antibiotics were discovered the medical community used Bacteriophages to treat serious diseases and infections like typhoid fever.

Phage Therapy was Successfully Used to Treat Serious Diseases

Researchers in the 1920s to 1940s believed bacteriophages or phages to be a potential therapeutic tools in dealing with infectious diseases. In fact, back in 1940s in Canada, phage therapy was successfully used to treat typhoid fever.

Then Came the Discovery of Antibiotics

Western medicine's interest in bacteriophages petered out with the discovery of antibiotics. However, interest has been rekindled. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Institute of Infection and Immunity (III), one of the 13 virtual Institutes of CIHR, and along with other partners, organized an informal and interactive workshop entitled 'Novel Alternatives to Antibiotics', which took place in Vancouver in March 2005.

The workshop combined an overview of antibiotic resistance with discussions on potential alternatives to using antibiotics. Of the many alternatives suggested included microbial ecology, which includes alteration of bacteria flora for example prebiotics and probiotics, and, phage therapy.

But like anything in research and medicine there is much to learn and unravel. Nevertheless, with the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance of bacteria, research in novel alternatives to antibiotics such as phage therapy in humans is a good thing.

Furthermore, biomedical technology today is very different from what it was in the early days of phage therapy research. In fact, experts on phage therapy in humans, indicate that biomedical technology advances will likely have an impact on the development of safe therapeutic phage preparations. If this happens then maybe phage therapy will be an additional weapon to prevent and/or treat bacterial infections.

Bacteria are Important in the Development of the Immune System

Most people may not know bacteria played an important role in the development of the human's immune system many years ago. That said, there must be something to the old saying, "a little dirt is good for you."

In the World of Bacteria There is the Good, Bad and Ugly

Here enters the good bacteria - Probiotics. The term "probiotics" is used for the concept of administering bacteria to benefit the host's health. Ongoing research in this area may discover the potential to prevent disease and increase life span.

You Do Eat Good BacteriaWhen you eat a cup of yogurt you are ingesting a good bacteria, usually strains called Lactobacillus bulagarius or Lactobacillus acidophillus as well as a bacterium used to improve the taste.

When an additional Lactobacillus or bifidoba bacterium known to benefit your health are added, the yogurt may have other functions such as helping to prevent disorders, such as candidiasis, an infection caused by a yeast fungus.

While probiotics has been gaining more news headlines, interest in bacteriophages are gaining more attention from the scientific community. That said, research is ongoing to decipher the symbiotic relationship or interaction between bacteria, viruses and humans.

Nov 18, 2008 6:03 PM

Guest :

The following headlines might have appeared in Canada:
1917: Canadian microbiologist, Felix d'Herelle, discovers natural nanotechnology, bacteriophage therapy, that can cure and prevent superbug infections and foodborne bacterial disease.
2008: Canadians continue to suffer and die unnecssarily from superbug infections and foodborne disease because Canada is too venal to approve and use natural nanotchnology, bacteriophage therapy, discovered by Canadian microbiologist, Felix d'Herelle in 1917.
While 8000 to 12000 Canadians are dying from antibiotic-resistant superbug infections annually the joke is on us, as some countries still practice technology discovered by the Canadian, Felix d'Herelle in 1917. Phage therapy uses highly specific viruses, bacteriophages, which are harmless for humans, to treat bacterial infections. Phage therapy is not currently approved or practised in Canada. According to a letter signed by a former federal health minister it can be made available legally to Canadians under the Special Access Program of our Food & Drugs Act! A discussion of phage therapy is currently very timely because of the release of the Canadian film: Killer Cure: The Amazing Adventures of Bacteriophage and the book by Thomas Haeusler entitled, Viruses vs. Superbugs, a solution to the antibiotics crisis? ( see http://www.bacteriophagetherapy.info ). Both references are available at Ottawa libraries.
This file has dramatically changed because the US Food and Drug Administration has amended the US food additive regulations to provide for the safe use of a bacteriophages on ready-to-eat meat against Listeria monocytogenes (see http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/02f-0316-nfr0001.pdf ). Also http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opabacqa.html . The idea that ready-to-eat meat can be treated if contaminated with Listeria bacteria while a doctor could not get a pharmaceutical grade phage therapy product when faced with a patient suffering listeriosis strikes this author as absurd especially considering the recent massive recall of ready-to-eat meat in Canada due to contamination with listeria. Information is available on phage therapy treatment in Georgia , Europe ( http://www.phagetherapycenter.com ), or Poland - ( http://www.aite.wroclaw.pl/phages/phages.html ) or more recently at the Wound Care Center, Lubbock, Texas ( http://www.woundcarecenter.net/ ) .
Canada should establish 'The Superbug Victim Felix d'Herelle Memorial Center for Experimental Phage Therapy' to provide phage therapy to patients when antibiotics fail or when patients are allergic to antibiotics.

Nov 19, 2008 5:47 PM

Guest :

I think the most important thing to remember about phage therapy is that there is almost 100 years of scientific literature and usage. Additionally 3 USA agencies, FDA, USDA and EPA have approved some phage therapy applications. Take a look at http://www.intralytix.com and http://www.omnilytics.com - these are companies that have approved products - I would venture that Intralytix's listeria phage product LMP-102 could have been used to cure some of the patients during the recent listeria meat recall and it can be done legally by using certain sections of the regulations.
For who is doing what worldwide take a look at http://www.bacteriophagetherapy.info.