A spotlight is hitting the virus "bacteriophage" known for long ago for antibiotic-resistant bacterial exploitation

Bacteria (resistant bacteria) that antibiotics do not work have appeared, and medical crisis is being screamed. As the all-purpose myth of antibiotics collapsed, attention was drawn in the early 20th century "BacteriophageVirus that kills bacteria called "The presence of virus is increasing.

Phase treatment of an aortic graft infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health | Oxford Academic
https://academic.oup.com/emph/article/2018/1/60/4923328

Man with Life - Threatening Heart Infection Saved by Virus Plucked from Lake
https://www.livescience.com/61963-virus-found-in-lake-treats-bacterial-infection.html

Bacteria-Killing Viruses Found in a Pond Knocked Out an Antibiotic-Resistant Infection - Motherboard
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/evmwjj/viruses-used-to-treat-infections-case-study

The advent of antibiotics overcame terrible infections that have robbed many human beings such as sepsis and tetanus, and modern medicine evolved dramatically. It was an antibiotic called "miracle medicine" because it is effective against various infectious diseases, but due to the long use of it, it will eventually produce antibiotic-resistant bacteria , How to face resistant bacteria is becoming a big problem.

In the meantime, attempts are being made to combat resistant bacteria with bacteriophage (phage). Phage is a type of virus that has the characteristic of shooting and killing specific bacteria and the existence itself was known from the first half of the 20th century. Since phage "host" is only bacteria, it attacks bacteria but it does not harm other cells and is considered to be a virus harmless to the human body. Phage has been studied mainly in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but since it is effective only for certain bacteria, research has been getting worse by the appearance of antibiotics that can cope with many infectious diseases.

Phage has a simple structure consisting of "head" to store DNA and "foot" to capture bacteria.


An 80-year-old man in Connecticut, USA, from an artificial blood vessel used for cardiac surgeryPseudomonasIt was infected with bacteria called long-term treatment with antibiotics, but it was no longer able to suppress infection due to resistant bacteria. It seems that men no longer have treatment options, and the doctor in charge asked researchers at Yale University who are studying phage for help.

Dr. Benjamin Zhang, one of the researchers who was asked for help, confirmed in the laboratory that phage called "OMKO 1" collected from a pond called Dodge Pond kills men infected bacteria. Surprisingly, bacteria that had been attacked by OMKO1 changed the structure to obtain resistance to OMKO1, but for antibacterial strains that changed, antibiotics that had not worked so far proved effective Thing. In other words, it was able to capture the resistant bacteria with two phases of phage and antibiotic.


In response to the results of the experiments, Dr. Chan got permission from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for the administration test of OMKO 1 and surgery to inject hundreds of thousands of OMKO 1 into male chest in January 2016 It was. Even though I did not take antibiotics for a very short time after surgery, it was confirmed that bacterial infection ceased, and after that, men reoccurring infection after 18 months by continuing to use antibiotics Is not ...

Although it is a phage that has the potential to overcome resistant bacteria, it is a therapeutic limitation to have aggression only against certain bacteria. There are about 1000 kinds of phage that are found at the present time and it is important to discover more new phage from now on. In addition, Dr. Chan got the water collected at the lake periodically from a laboratory studying fish on a floor separate from his own laboratory, and he seems to be searching for a new kind of phage.