So what happens when you use bacteriophages? Because these viruses are so species-specific, they destroy only the harmful bacteria and allow the useful ones to live. As a result, bacteriophages have no negative effect on the gut microbiota.
Despite all their advantages, there is still one drawback to being treated with bacteriophages. Because phages so specifically attack only one species of bacteria, doctors first have to figure out which bacteria is causing the infection.
Only then can the appropriate bacteriophage be found. Treatments of this type are already available in Georgia. Currently, however, the use of bacteriophages in the Netherlands is still awaiting research by institutions such as University Medical Center Utrecht and a research group from Delft University of Technology.
It will probably take some ten years for bacteriophages to be prescribed as medicine in the Netherlands. Do you want to know more about what bacteriophages are and how they can be used for treatment? Phages have actually been used to treat dysentery, sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus , salmonella infections and skin infections for nearly a century. Early sources of phages for therapy included local water bodies, dirt, air, sewage and even body fluids from infected patients.
The viruses were isolated from these sources, purified, and then used for treatment. Phages have attracted renewed interest as we continue to see the rise of drug resistant infections. Recently, a teenager in the United Kingdom was reportedly close to death when phages were successfully used to treat a serious infection that had been resistant to antibiotics.
Nowadays, phages are genetically engineered. Individual strains of phages are tested against target bacteria, and the most effective strains are purified into a potent concentration. These are stored as either bacteriophage stocks cocktails , which contain one or more strains of phages and can target a broad range of bacteria, or as Adapted bacteriophages, which target specific bacteria. Before treatment, a swab is collected from the infected area of the patient, cultured in the lab to identify the bacterial strain, and tested against the therapeutic phage stocks.
Treatment can be safely administered orally, applied directly onto wounds or bacterial lesions, or even spread onto infected surfaces. Clinical trials for intravenous administration of phages are ongoing. Viral infections at a young age are important to ensure the proper development of our immune systems. One insertion at least 60 million years ago was a gene called syncytin, which spurred the evolution of the placenta. Otherwise, a fetus would be gobbled up by white blood cells.
But syncytin allows our genes to build a barrier between fetus and mother while still allowing the exchange of nutrients. In short, we owe some of the fundamental principles of human evolution to viruses.
Viruses still play a beneficial role in our health today. Take the microbiome, which seeks to catalog the intricate society of microbes that reside in our bowels. Some viruses actually prevent infection. He and other scientists are starting to understand the ways we can better coexist with viruses. So far, most of this research is in mice, but in one study Cadwell demonstrated that viruses can protect against intestinal damage caused by antibiotics.
One day, this could lead to therapies or technology to help humans live in better harmony with viruses. Whether or not the host gets sick is kind of more on us than them. Register or Log In. The Magazine Shop. Login Register Stay Curious Subscribe.
SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient and imaged using a transmission electron micrograph.
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