Dr. Ken Garson, lab guru and suspected former KGB agent, once told me that in Russia they used to use bacteriophage in operating rooms to prevent infection. Cool.
So I finally checked it out and it was all mainstream science news in 2002. Even making it into Wired magazine article about the promise of bacteriophages as antibiotic resistance increases in prevalence, the article also mentions a company Novolytics that is trying to develop this as a new bacteriophage technology. Also the authoritative Nature News had a nice article that has a bit more background on the previous Soviet technology. Apparently phage creams and such were commonly available there. For the truly interested there have been some sophisticated studies of the effectiveness of these phages, even going as far as to use the Trojan Horse concept.
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4 comments:
Hi Rob,
Re your article about phages. Two colleagues & I have been trying to get the British & Canadian Health (sickness) Services to refocus away from conventional antibiotic use, towards using phage therapy. The response, we commonly get is "more research is needed". Hah!
People we know are going over to Tbilisi for their treatments because our NSS is unable to help them. The main drawback with phage therapy is that it requires 'intelligent doctoring' and as yet can't be patented by the chemical companies. But, they are working on it!
Despite some high-level contact with government ministers & House of Lords members, nothing ever seems to go any further. Will it take the death from MRSA of a prominent cabinet minister, before action is taken? We suspect so.
Any thoughts/ideas on getting this treatment the oxygen of publicity would be most welcome!
Cheers,
Mike Jozefiak
PS I know where phage therapy went wrong - it should have been named 'Vioxx' and it would have easily slipped by the regulators!
Anyone who wants in-depth information about phage therapy can turn to www.bacteriophagetherapy.info It is the home of "Viruses vs. superbugs" a book about the topic.
Hi Everyone,
Those who are vaguely familiar with their phage history will be interested to know that my friend and colleague, Winston Churchill Fellow, Grace Filby, will be having tea & tiffin with Fredrick Twort's son this month. Who'd like to be a fly on their wall!?
What a shame that the people, including, ironically, Winston Churchill, who refused to recognise Fredrick's revolutionary discoveries, are all dead. They should see where the Great Antibiotic Misuse has left us.
Mike Jozefiak
Dr.Ken Garson is one of the best one Doctors , he is so important to the study of the bacteriophage.
It is so interesting and very easy to understand!!
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