1. Evolving Antibiotics and other Fairy Tales The Quest for the “Perfect Antibiotic” by Chris Engdahl

2. Antibiotic Resistance
Mutations create novel antibiotic antagonists (β-lactamase)
Strong selective pressures (i.e. antibiotics) eliminate nonresistant strains
Interspecies competition promotes virulence factors
Those strains immune survive to reproduce

3. Antibiotic Resistance
Methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus (MRSA)
Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE)
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Salmonella
Campylobacter
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Burn victims)
Escherichia coli
And many, many more…

4. Antibiotic Resistance
Graphic example of natural selection and evolution in action
Novel antibiotics quickly lose efficacy
New resistant strains emerge fast

5. Are We Screwed?
(Perhaps not…)

6. Ganges River, 1896 Considered a dirty river
Bacteriologist Ernest Hankin determines an unfilterable antimicrobial agent preventing cholera outbreaks

7. Paris, 1917
Félix d'Hérelle discovers "an invisible, antagonistic microbe of the dysentery bacillus…”
“... a virus parasitic on bacteria.“
Call his discovery a bacteriophage (“bacteria-eater”)
Forgotten to Western Medicine with the Antibiotic Revolution (but not to Russia)

8. Enter the Phage Bacteria’s Natural Predator
9×108 virions/mm in oceans
Arguably the most abundant life form on earth
Infects 70% of marine bacteria

9. Bacteriophage Life Cycle

10. Phage antagonists exist for the following pathogens
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Listeria monocytogenes
Escherichia coli
Salmonella typhi
Multidrug Resistant Staphylococcus Areus (MRSA)
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Shigela dysenteriae
Vibrio cholerae
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Clostridium perfringens

11. Benefits of Phage Therapy
Target specific
Quick, easy, and cheap to grow
“Evolving antibiotic”
No documented side effects (GRAS organisms)

12. Shortcomings Body may mount immune response, decreasing efficacy
Not all bacteria have a phage antagonist …yet
Public perception
Traditional stereotypes (Russian)
Ineffective against viral infections

13. In Summary
Phage Therapy is a novel, effective and evolving treatment for many bacterial infections
Largely untested due to public perception (“live virus syndrome”) and Cold War politics
Potential for genetic manipulation and enhancement
Some Phase 1 clinical trials in progress now in Lubbock, TX
FDA approved for meat processing against Listeria monocytogenes

14. Bibliography Articles
Brüssow H "Phage therapy: the Escherichia coli experience“. Microbiology (2005) v. 151, p
Soothill JS (1994). "Bacteriophage prevents destruction of skin grafts by Pseudomonas aeruginosa". Burns 20 (3): 209–11.
Duckworth DH, Gulig PA (2002). "Bacteriophages: potential treatment for bacterial infections". BioDrugs 16 (1): 57–62.
Pirisi A (2000). "Phage therapy—advantages over antibiotics?". Lancet 356 (9239): 1418.
"Stalin's Forgotten Cure" Science 25 October 2002 v.298
Thiel, Karl (January 2004). "Old dogma, new tricks—21st Century phage therapy". Nature Biotechnology (London UK: Nature Publishing Group) 22 (1): 31–36.
Wommack KE, Colwell RR (March 2000). "Virioplankton: viruses in aquatic ecosystems". Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 64 (1): 69–114.
Hyperlinks
- FDA Agency Response Letter GRAS Notice No. GRN
- Bacteriophage life cycle a la Youtube
- Félix d'Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses
- Phage Therapy Center of Tbilsi, Georgia. “…effective treatment solution for patients who have bacterial infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotics”