Viruses Vs Superbugs

Each year thousands of people die from bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Alternative drugs are urgently needed. A surprising ray of hope from the past are viruses that kill bacteria, but not us. Award-winning science journalist Thomas Häusler investigates how these long-forgotten cures may help sick people today.

In the US alone some 90,000 people die from superbugs--bacteria that have grown immune to antibiotics. Officials agree that this problem will only get worse with time and new alternatives must be found. One alternative that is being considered by scientists is a kind of virus called a bacteriophage. "Phages"--viruses that kill bacteria but not humans--were discovered in 1915. Phage therapy was successfully used for twenty years before the invention of penicillin made them obsolete everywhere but Eastern Europe, where they are still in use today. In its first English translation, this book tells the fascinating story behind the history of the phage, its discovery and development, as well as the strides that are being made to bring the therapy back to the West today.

An electrifying memoir of one woman's extraordinary effort to save her husband's life-and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more. "A memoir that reads like a thriller." -New York Times Book Review "A fascinating and terrifying peek into the devastating outcomes of antibiotic misuse-and what happens when standard health care falls short." -Scientific American Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world. Frantic, Steffanie combed through research old and new and came across phage therapy: the idea that the right virus, aka "the perfect predator," can kill even the most lethal bacteria. Phage treatment had fallen out of favor almost 100 years ago, after antibiotic use went mainstream. Now, with time running out, Steffanie appealed to phage researchers all over the world for help. She found allies at the FDA, researchers from Texas A&M, and a clandestine Navy biomedical center -- and together they resurrected a forgotten cure. A nail-biting medical mystery, The Perfect Predator is a story of love and survival against all odds, and the (re)discovery of a powerful new weapon in the global superbug crisis.

International Bestseller "An amazing, informative book that changes our perspective on medicine, microbes and our future." --Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies A New York Times bestselling author shares this exhilarating story of cutting-edge science and the race against the clock to find new treatments in the fight against the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. Physician, researcher, and ethics professor Matt McCarthy is on the front lines of a groundbreaking clinical trial testing a new antibiotic to fight lethal superbugs, bacteria that have built up resistance to the life-saving drugs in our rapidly dwindling arsenal. This trial serves as the backdrop for the compulsively readable Superbugs, and the results will impact nothing less than the future of humanity. Dr. McCarthy explores the history of bacteria and antibiotics, from Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, to obscure sources of innovative new medicines (often found in soil samples), to the cutting-edge DNA manipulation known as CRISPR, bringing to light how we arrived at this juncture of both incredible breakthrough and extreme vulnerability. We also meet the patients whose lives are hanging in the balance, from Remy, a teenager with a dangerous and rare infection, to Donny, a retired New York City firefighter with a compromised immune system, and many more. The proverbial ticking clock will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Can Dr. McCarthy save the lives of his patients infected with the deadly bacteria, who have otherwise lost all hope?

Before the arrival of penicillin in the 1940s, phage therapy was one of the few weapons doctors had against bacterial infections. It saved the life of Hollywood legend Tom Mix before being abandoned by Western science. Now, researchers and physicians are rediscovering the treatment, which pits phage viruses against their natural bacterial hosts, as a potential weapon against antibiotic-resistant infections. The Forgotten Cure traces the story of phages from Paris, where they were discovered in 1917; to Tbilisi, Georgia, where one of phage therapy’s earliest proponents died at the hands of Stalin; to the Nobel podium, where prominent scientists have been recognized for breakthroughs stemming from phage research. Today, a crop of biotech startups and dedicated physicians is racing to win regulatory approval for phage therapy before superbugs exhaust the last drug in the medical arsenal. Will they clear the hurdles in time?

The evolution of human beings has been shaped to a large extent by microbes. A number of microbes are innocuous or even contribute to our health equilibrium. This is the case of bacteria and viral phages present in our gut. However, several bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi are damaging our bodies, causing a number of acute and chronic diseases. Until recently, these bugs represented the main causes of death. Better hygiene, vaccines, antibiotics and other anti-microbial drugs have resulted in a better control or cure of many infections. However, malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS still represent major threats in several countries and the recent epidemics of Ebola and Zika demonstrate how vulnerable we are to newly emerging viruses. Furthermore, diarrhea and pneumonia caused by bacteria or viruses still kill millions of children worldwide. Most importantly, bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics are multiplying at a high pace and these superbugs are expected to kill more and more people in the coming years. Clearly, we need to develop more effective approaches to tackle bugs and superbugs. Better hygiene and better vaccine coverage must be considered first and education of kids is essential in this respect. This is the main objective of this series of papers published in Frontiers for Young Minds under the heading “How to Fight Harmful Microbial Bugs and Superbugs?”. Another key objective of the collection is to elicit the interest of children for research on innovative anti-microbial therapies and vaccines.

What Is Phage Therapy The therapeutic use of bacteriophages, also known as phage therapy, viral phage therapy, or phagotherapy, may be defined as the treatment of infectious diseases caused by harmful bacteria. This treatment technique arose at the beginning of the 20th century, but following the second world war, it was gradually supplanted by the use of antibiotics in most areas of the globe. Bacteriophages are a kind of virus that attach itself to bacterial cells and then inject their genome into the bacterial cell. Bacteriophages are also known as phages. The bacterial genome is successfully replaced by the genome of the virus, which results in the cessation of the bacterial infection. Because it is unable to replicate, the bacterial cell that is responsible for the infection instead creates extra phages. Phages are only effective against extremely specific bacterial species due to their high level of specificity. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Phage therapy Chapter 2: Antibiotic Chapter 3: Antimicrobial resistance Chapter 4: Bacteriophage Chapter 5: Colistin Chapter 6: Multiple drug resistance Chapter 7: Pseudomonas aeruginosa Chapter 8: Carbapenem Chapter 9: Polypeptide antibiotic Chapter 10: Steffanie A. Strathdee Chapter 11: Enzybiotics Chapter 12: Ceftolozane/tazobactam Chapter 13: Phagoburn Chapter 14: ESKAPE Chapter 15: Cefiderocol Chapter 16: Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics Chapter 17: Locus Biosciences Chapter 18: Benjamin Chan Chapter 19: Robert T. Schooley Chapter 20: Martha Clokie Chapter 21: Multidrug-resistant bacteria (II) Answering the public top questions about phage therapy. (III) Real world examples for the usage of phage therapy in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of phage therapy' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of phage therapy.