Bacteriophages
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Bacteriophages
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Jaybird19
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5 Replies
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There has been quite a bit of discussion on here about these. An interesting idea but very expensive and complicated to access at present. I looked into it. There is some research being done in the US and UK currently but medics remain sceptical. My bronchiectasis specialist asked ‘ if they are so effective how come that lung health in Russia and Eastern Europe is so bad?’ The jury is out but we do need a more effective approach than we have at present.
I am listening to it now. She isn’t the first to be interested in this. Phages have been used for a long time, especially in the Soviet Union where they had no access to antibiotics. The US navy have a collection of over 40,000 of them. ( one does have to wonder why)
Jaybird19 in reply to
I dont know a lot about this but i do believe it should be regarded as important I didnt know that about the US navy. I wonder why them ? Will look at that. I know each is specific to its bacteria and there are innumerable bacteria. "Every flea has it s little flea " that is the way it was described to me when I first heard of them.,! So phages are not really practible at present but what are we going to find to replace antibiotics . They are interesting that they multiply like viruses do by injecting them selves into a cell and, using the cell to multiply.h
As each bacteria becomes resistant and multi resistant we cannot use antibiotics against them and as far as i know we only have one we can rely on . We have had no new antibiotics developed for many years. We have combined and altered existing ones in ways that extend their usage . I worked in a routine medical microbiology lab for many years and most of my life there was concern about this increasing resistance. We routinely screened some medical staff for MRSA and now there are more and more once fairly innocuous bugs that are becoming a problem.
So we have to find an answer
I did see an item about a phage being used to treat a 17 yr old suffering from cystic fibrosis and that has been successful so far.
. I no longer have access to info about this and rely on what is in the general press, which is not much. I have recorded this mornings talk so will listen later.
in reply to Jaybird19
Agree with all that but sadly bacteria seem able to evade phages too. I live in hope.
Hi Jaybird, I lestened to this very interesting programme this morning. I thought Martha was a very interesting and personable woman and note she has worked away for a long time specialising in phages for use with c.dif. I would be very interested if you come across anything of interest in your research of phages. Thank you for posting.
Cx
