Why hasn't there been greater research into phage therapy as a solution to growing antibiotic resistance and will it ever see widespread utilisation?
Advantages of phage therapy over antibiotics:
>Specificity; phages only kill the target bacteria meaning beneficial flora are unharmed, largely eliminating the risk of antibiotic-induced illnesses such as C.difficile infection
>Bacteria and phages are in an eternal arms race meaning resistance is unlikely and any bacterial resistance to the phage that does develop will be short lived as the phage evolves new methods of overcoming such resistance
>Virulent phages can be isolated much more quickly than other compounds and natural products due to the fact that they can be isolated from the environment with ease, reducing development costs
>Phages tend to be more successful than antibiotics where there is a biofilm covered by a polysaccharide layer, which antibiotics typically cannot penetrate.
Phage therapy was extensively and successfully used in the Soviet Union during WWII and is the primary means of treating bacterial infection in Georgia today. Why isn't it used in the West?
Advantages of phage therapy over antibiotics:
>Specificity; phages only kill the target bacteria meaning beneficial flora are unharmed, largely eliminating the risk of antibiotic-induced illnesses such as C.difficile infection
>Bacteria and phages are in an eternal arms race meaning resistance is unlikely and any bacterial resistance to the phage that does develop will be short lived as the phage evolves new methods of overcoming such resistance
>Virulent phages can be isolated much more quickly than other compounds and natural products due to the fact that they can be isolated from the environment with ease, reducing development costs
>Phages tend to be more successful than antibiotics where there is a biofilm covered by a polysaccharide layer, which antibiotics typically cannot penetrate.
Phage therapy was extensively and successfully used in the Soviet Union during WWII and is the primary means of treating bacterial infection in Georgia today. Why isn't it used in the West?
