MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

Phage Therapy May Help Fight Resistant Bacteria

Link: cbs5.com - Phage Therapy May Help Fight Resistant Bacteria.

In the crumbling, former Soviet state of Georgia, stripped of nearly everything of value, is a newly re-discovered medical technology of unlimited potential. The technology involves the use of bacteriophages...phages, for short... a virus that attacks and kills specific bacterium. David Hodges of Phage International in Los Altos says the virus therapy is essentially 100 percent effective at stopping infections caused by new antibiotic-resistant superbugs. "Hospital staph infections, skin infections, it's acquired in the community as much as it's acquired in the hospitals," said Hodges. "It's a very prevalent and difficult to kill bacteria strain." Phage International teamed with doctors at a clinic in the former Soviet state to treat patients from the United States, because the therapy is not approved by the FDA. The clinic is one of the few places in the world that continued to practice phage therapy after the discovery of antibiotics. Here's how it works. The phage virus attaches to the surface of the bacteria cell. It injects its DNA into the cell itself. The virus is alive, and this is how it reproduces. Within a just few minutes, the DNA becomes a phage factory, hijacking the bacteria's own reproductive mechanism and turning out new copies of the virus, until they explode through the cell wall, killing the bacteria and releasing phages that rampage in search of other identical cells, and only those cells, until all the bacteria are gone.

More at the link above

Virus Could Combat Deadly MRSA Bacteria | LiveScience

Link: Fire With Fire: Virus Could Combat Deadly Human Bacteria | LiveScience.

Instead of attacking the bacterium with new antibiotics that it could evolve a resistance against over time, immunologist Domenico Iannelli at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy and his colleagues tried using bacteria-killing viruses known as bacteriophages or phages. These do not infect humans. The researchers identified a phage that preys on Staphylococcus aureus. They next experimented with the virus on mice given either lethal or non-lethal doses of the bacterium, including MRSA strains. Iannelli and his colleagues found phage therapy could rescue 97 percent of mice given lethal doses from death. When given to mice with nonlethal doses, the virus fully eliminated the infections.

Phage eliminates 97% of MRSA strains

Link: ScienceDaily

A bacteriophage, or phage for short, is a virus that infects bacteria. In the study researchers identified the phage, MSa, and tested its activity against S. aureus in mice. Following simultaneous inoculation with both MSa and lethal and non-lethal doses of S. aureus results showed MSa rescued ninety-seven percent of mice from death and fully cleared mice of non-lethal bacterial infections. "These results suggest a potential use of the phage for the control of both local and systemic human S. aureus infections," say the researchers. These findings are reported in the August 2007 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Phage Therapy Cheaper than Antibiotics

Link: HighWire Press -- Medline Abstract.

The current drama of antibiotic resistance has revived interest in phage therapy. In response to this challenge, a phage therapy center was established at our Institute in 2005 which accepts patients from Poland and abroad with antibiotic-resistant infections. We now present data showing that efficient phage therapy of staphylococcal infections is no longer a treatment of last resort (when all antibiotics fail), but allows for significant savings in the costs of healthcare.

Superbugs, MRSA, Phages, & Bdellovibrio

Link: Naked Scientists 04.12.12.

This link will take you to a radio show online which explores the subjects below

This week the world of bacteria, fungi, viruses and superbugs goes under the microscope. Microbiologist Dr Mark Farrington discusses the worsening issue of antibiotic resistance and the MRSA problem. He is joined by Nottingham University bacteriologist Dr Liz Sockett who works on Bdellovibrio, a predatory bacterium that hunts down other bacteria and might be useful as a 'living' antibiotic, and Professor Nick Mann, from Warwick University, who is developing bacteriophages (viruses that can attack bacteria including MRSA) that can safely be applied to wounds, in a dressing or as a nose-spray, to eliminate the carriage of bacteria, or infection.

Hospital superbugs 'may be history by 2015'

Link: Scotsman.com

HOSPITAL superbugs could be all but wiped out in ten years by viruses that are harmless to humans, say Scottish scientists. Dr Mike Mattey and a team of researchers at Strathclyde University have come up with a new method of tackling bugs such as the killer MRSA that does not involve using antibiotics. They have patented a technique to allow bacteriophages - viruses which are the natural enemy of bacteria - to be used in normal cleaning products. The viruses can lie dormant for weeks, only waking up to devour the MRSA when it arrives. A drop of ordinary sea water contains millions of tiny bacteriophages and, despite the fact they are known to be harmless to humans, the Strathclyde team still have to go through a regulatory process that is expected to take up to three years. Dr Mattey, who was yesterday at a meeting of the Federation of Infection Societies in Cardiff to promote the system, told The Scotsman: "With this strategy, we can resolve all these antibiotic-resistant bacteria problems. We cannot cure it completely, but we can control it."

Targeting is vital in MRSA battle

Link: Scientists

   Scientists at a Scottish university may soon be able to kill some of the more vicious strains of the MRSA superbug which have become resistant to traditional treatment methods. A team from Strathclyde University has come up with a model solution to the hospital-acquired infection. Their approach differs drastically from past efforts to kill the bug with antibiotics, which have proved counter-productive and actually strengthened it. The four-strong group say previous techniques, which have attempted to kill all unwanted bacteria in this way, are "like trying to push water uphill". Mike Mattey, Janice Spencer, Fiona McColm and Luisa Verrechia have taken a more targeted approach to their work. Their recommendation is that those responsible for controlling drug-resistant strains of infection concentrate only on the small percentage of bacteria which have already mutated. They suggest using bacteriophages - viruses which kill one specific species of bacteria each and which have shown to be effective against up to 90% of MRSA.

Phages and Light could be MRSA answer

Link: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Light-activated antimicrobial agents (photosensitizers) are promising alternatives to antibiotics for the treatment of topical infections. To improve efficacy and avoid possible damage to host tissues, targeting of the photosensitizer to the infecting organism is desirable, and this has previously been achieved using antibodies and chemical modification of the agent. In this study we investigated the possibility of using a bacteriophage to deliver the photosensitizer tin(IV) chlorin e6 (SnCe6) to Staphylococcus aureus. SnCe6 was covalently linked to S. aureus bacteriophage 75, and the ability of the conjugate to kill various strains of S. aureus when exposed to red light was determined. Substantial kills of methicillin- and vancomycin-intermediate strains of S. aureus were achieved using low concentrations of the conjugate (containing 1.5 �g/ml SnCe6) and low light doses (21 J/cm2). Under these conditions, the viability of human epithelial cells (in the absence of bacteria) was largely unaffected. On a molar equivalent basis, the conjugate was a more effective bactericide than the unconjugated SnCe6, and killing was not growth phase dependent. The conjugate was effective against vancomycin-intermediate strains of S. aureus even after growth in vancomycin. The results of this study have demonstrated that a bacteriophage can be used to deliver a photosensitizer to a target organism, resulting in enhanced and selective killing of the organism. Such attributes are desirable in an agent to be used in the photodynamic therapy of infectious diseases.

Alternatives: Phage Therapy: Rediscovering a Treatment for Superbug Infections

Link: The Epoch Times.

At present, in addition to established organizations in Georgia, Russia and Poland that are reportedly marketing therapeutic and prophylactic phage products against bacteria including Staphylococci, Streptococci, E. coli, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Salmonella, Shigella, Serratia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Campylobacter, Yersinia and Brucella, there are an estimated 10 companies located in the United States (Intralytix Inc: www.intralytix.com), Canada, India (GangaGen: www.gangagen.com) and Israel (Phage Biotech Ltd: www.phage-biotech.com) racing to provide a number of phage therapy products for a range of medical, animal husbandry, food processing and environmental applications. It is anticipated that the first phage-based products for treatment of meat and poultry will receive FDA approval soon; an “experimental use permit” from EPA has been granted for use of phages in the environment on non-food contact surfaces.

Phage Therapy for Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Stops Many Amputations

Link: PharmaLive

Phage International Inc. announced today that Phage Therapy Center, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, is expanding operations with the opening of Phage Therapy Center, Mexico. Patients with infected wounds that are resistant to antibiotics may now travel to PTC's new clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. Infected wounds not responding to antibiotics often result in limb amputations. In the United States, lower limb amputations for those with diabetic foot ulcers total approximately 65,000 amputations each year, and those with difficult-to-treat infected wounds number in the 100s of thousands. Phages or bacteriophage are bacteria-specific viruses that invade the bacterial cells. Lytic phages disrupt bacterial metabolism and cause the bacterium to lyse. Like antibiotics, lytic phages have remarkable antibacterial activity. Potential patients may visit www.phagetherapycenter.com to find out more details. "PTC treats antibiotic-resistant infections and has saved people from amputation. Our clinic specializes in situations where bacteriophage therapy tends to be superior to standard antibiotic therapy in the US and Western Europe. Conditions treated include: Diabetic foot ulcers, Tropic ulcers, Osteomyelitis, Bedsores, Burns, Gingivitis, Parodontosis, Stomatitis, and drug-resistant infections such as MRSA, VRE, and others.