The ‘superbug’ health crisis emerging from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections should fast-track development of already proven phage-based therapies, according to a paper in Microbiology Letters by Flinders University virologist Dr Peter Speck. In Australia this could be done, for example, by including the problem in the National Health Priority Areas.
Dr Speck writes that viruses that infect and kill bacteria - or lytic bacteriophages (phages) - are a “safe and effective” alternative therapy in the face of the rising number of bacterial infections proving resistant to traditional antibiotics.
The over-prescription and inappropriate administration of antibiotics is causing a rapid expansion in the numbers of resistant bacteria. The seriousness of the problem is highlighted by reports that up to 30% of patients who get infected “golden staph” Staphylococcus aureus (SA) die within 30 days. SA bacteria are increasingly becoming resistant to virtually all antibiotics.
Dr Speck says that the use of phages is widely considered possible for topical or localised use in wounds, burns, diabetic foot infections, or bowel and sinus bacterial infections
And while there are potential objections to the intravenous (IV) use of the phage, this must be weighed against the high mortality associated with certain severe infectious diseases that may be treatable through IV phage therapy.
Since the 1920s, history shows that phages can also be used safely and effectively via the IV route. In the 1940s, IV use of phages was successfully used to combat typhoid fever epidemics and SA bacteremia, when the current and available therapeutics were inadequate.
Flinders University and the University of Adelaide are currently conducting a first human trial of a phage-based treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in Australia by US-listed company AmpliPhi Biosciences. The company estimates CRS affects more than 10% of the population, or more than 20 million in the US alone, where the annual cost to the economy through lost productivity is estimated at $400 billion (US$350 billion).