Superbacteria Threat Looms, But Bacteriophage Therapy Offers Century-Long Hope
TEL AVIV – A growing crisisโค of antibiotic resistance threatens to cause overโฃ 10 million deaths annually โby 2050, but โขnew research into bacteriophage therapy-using viruses to combat bacteria-suggests aโฃ potential treatment pathway with a history spanning decades adn a possible future lasting another century.
Bacteria are โขincreasingly resistant to antibiotics. โคGlobal Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (Gram) โคProject data published in The Lancet revealsโค over one million โpeople already die each year from antimicrobial resistance, encompassingโ resistance โฃto antibiotics, antifungals, antiparasitics, and antivirals. Antibiotic use has risen by over 21% as 2016, exacerbating the problem.
However, scientists are exploring bacteriophages โข- viruses that infect and kill bacteria – as โa potential solution. โResearchers at โTelโค Aviv University have โdiscovered that attacked โขbacteria can divide asymmetrically, allowing them to exclude the infected portion and preserve the rest of the cell.
“I discovered that the attacked bacteria can be divided asymmetrically, so thay can exclude โthe infected part and save the rest of the cell,” explained Microbiologist Sigal Ben-Yehuda, author of the study.
Understanding this mechanism is crucial for developing โeffective neutralization โmethods, researchers say, potentially through โฃcompounds that prevent bacterial sensor proteins from detecting the viral โขintruder.
Bacteriophage therapy can be administered inโ various forms, including pills, liquids, topical creams, sprays, dressings, and intravenous injections.
Last year, theโ therapy successfully treated Squeaks, a cat with a multi-drug resistant infection, in Israel. Veterinarians applied a customized bacteriophage mixture directly to the cat’s wound, alongside ineffective antibiotics, resulting in complete infection clearance and wound healing within weeks. This marked the first documented case of personalized bacteriophage therapy in animals.
While largely considered experimental โin the Western world,bacteriophage therapy has been utilized for decades in countries like Georgia and Poland.โ The recent discoveries are fueling renewedโฃ research, offering hope that bacteriophage therapy could โsupplement or even replace antibiotics in treating persistent infections.
