Harnessing the Power of Phage Therapy: A Lifesaving Breakthrough
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Chapter 1: A Friend's Fight for Survival
Several years ago, a close friend experienced a life-threatening accident that required her to be hospitalized for an extended period. She battled a severe bacterial infection and was hooked up to numerous IV lines of antibiotics, none of which seemed to help her. It appeared that she was running out of time.
Fortunately, my friend had a connection to someone in the community who could assist—let's refer to her as Maria. After taking a sample from the infected wounds and culturing the bacteria, Maria reached out to my friend, delivering both distressing and encouraging news: “The bad news is that it’s a multi-drug resistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The good news is I have a phage that can target it.”
Phages, or bacteriophages, are specialized viruses that have evolved to infect and eliminate specific bacteria. After a covert visit to administer the phage treatment, my friend, who had been bedridden for months, was released from the hospital just two days later.
While it may sound miraculous, the truth is far simpler—phage therapy, combined with the expertise of someone knowledgeable about its application, saved her life.
Sadly, many individuals don’t share her fortune. A health and economic impact study from Australia revealed that just five types of multi-drug resistant bacteria resulted in over 1,000 deaths in 2020, costing nearly $440 million in premature death and adding up to $72 million in hospital expenses.
With thousands of Australians succumbing annually to infections resistant to antibiotics, accumulating costs running into billions, one might wonder why phages aren’t already in widespread use. Several factors contribute to this delay:
- Political History: During World War II, the initial supply of antibiotics was limited and primarily available to the Allies. This led the Soviet Union, along with Germany to a lesser extent, to pursue phage therapy actively. However, in the post-war period, the Western world’s political rejection of Soviet science resulted in a strong focus on antibiotics.
- Economic Interests: The post-war era saw a surge in the pharmaceutical industry, which profited significantly from antibiotics that were easy to manufacture and distribute.
- Fear and Misinformation: Being viruses, phages often evoke apprehension as many people are unaware that they cannot infect human cells. This misunderstanding extends to many healthcare providers, as phage therapy rarely features in medical education.
To encourage the adoption of phage therapy, public and medical education is essential. It can be straightforward—people already grasp the concept of 'good' and 'bad' bacteria; similarly, understanding that there are 'good' and 'bad' viruses, with phages being the beneficial ones, can foster acceptance.
What are the advantages of phage therapy?
Phages generally have fewer side effects and are more cost-effective to produce compared to antibiotics. Instead of investing billions and waiting years for new antibiotics—only to face rapid resistance—new phages can be developed in weeks.
Moreover, phages are more selective, leading to less disruption of beneficial bacteria and a lower likelihood of secondary infections. Resistance to phages is also less common, and when it does occur, its impact is limited compared to the widespread antibiotic resistance that can affect multiple bacteria types.
Unlike antibiotics, which are swiftly metabolized and cleared from the body, making it hard to concentrate them at infection sites, phages replicate where they are needed and stop multiplying once the target bacteria are eradicated.
There’s much more to say about the advantages of phages, but the key message is clear—and thankfully, an increasing number of researchers in medicine are recognizing this. With the rising threat of antibiotic resistance and insufficient development of new antibiotics, the medical community is rediscovering the potential of phage therapy.
In Australia, a collective of researchers and clinicians has formed Phage Australia, marking a significant step forward. The first patient was treated in 2019, and following successful initial studies, they are now advancing to clinical trials.
Phage therapy stands poised to transform the treatment of bacterial infections, and it’s encouraging to see Australia at the forefront of this vital research and development.
Jonathan Meddings BMedLabSc(Hons) is a public policy expert in the community health sector and has authored over 100 medical fact sheets, coauthoring leading biology textbooks.
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