Comments on: Eaters of bacteria: Is phage therapy ready for the big time?

By: Carissa McConnell

Carissa McConnell — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:02:27 +0000

In May 2011 I traveled from Florida to Tbilisi Georgia for phage therapy after 1 1/2 years of western medicine (IV antibiotics…Hyperbaric oxygen…surgeries, you name it) could not kill a serious MRSA infection. All I know is that it worked for me. I have been MRSA free and also antibiotic free since. I have nothing against antibiotics, but when they failed, I’m glad my own researching alternative treatments led me to bacteriophage and the means to become well again.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:36:38 +0000

I was treated in Georgia in 2005 for MRSA and Ecoli and near death when I arrived…. Long story short, without disclosing too much, I have been working on a project for three years to commercialize numerous phage applications in South America… it will and is happening… Big PHarma does not control the entire world, and while South American profits are marginal in comparison to US, they are very real and sustainable.. and the medical and scientific communities in South America… well, we can learn a lot from them, their attitude and willingness to put the patients health before bottom line…

MNicholson@vi-cure.com

By: Katerina

Katerina — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:18:30 +0000

yes Bill. As someone said -you could be the next victim of a superbug infection. I was not. Now I am. I live in West where GP does not know or pretend they know and give you antibiotics for all due to a shortage of time and mounten of pacience before the door. Is it right? Now I go to East for a help, for phage therapy. If this will work then The East can be proud of its work and its believe in people. Not the west.
K.

By: Bill Riedel

Bill Riedel — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:23:35 +0000

The real answer to the phage therapy problem was described in an article entitled:

U.S. needs to open eyes to ‘phage therapy’
Posted 7/6/2006 at

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-07-06-phage-therapy_x.htm

The second problem is that there are far too many false starts – people get a grant and go to a river and do what Hankin etc did in around 1900. What we need is to make a deal with Georgia and Poland and get a few doctors and scientists, including some regulators, trained over there and they then come home and establish a number of government supported labs called ‘The Superbug Victim Felix d’Herelle Memorial Center for Experimental Phage Therapy’ to provide phage therapy to patients when antibiotics fail or when patients are allergic to antibiotics. Most countries have legal provisions where this is possible if there is the will. As someone said a few years ago – remember you could be the next victim of a superbug infection.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:16:39 +0000

I’m cool with calling viruses living. They’ve got DNA or RNA, reproduce and adapt. I’ve thought this since i was very, very little. But the more i’ve learned about them, the more confident i’ve become.

I’m currently trying to convince myself that prions are alive or not. A bit of misfolded protien causes cells to produce misfolded protien? They reproduce, but do they adapt? Protien, like DNA, does carry information…

By: Martin Wright

Martin Wright — Mon, 23 May 2011 02:22:57 +0000

It is such a criminal shame that health issues always seem to be put on a back burner, due to lack of funds, but if we weren’t fighting everyone else’s wars, maybe the funds would be a little easier to find. This kind of research is just what is needed, as antibiotics seem to be given out like sweets, and soon there effective value will be nil.

By: amphiox

amphiox — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:08:20 +0000

There is no money in using natural phages

And why should that be? You still have to grow the things, purify them, package them for consumption, etc, all of which are patentable processes.

Plus there’s the possibility for genetically modifying phages….

Saying there’s no money in natural phages is like saying there’s no money in aspirin, no money in penicillin, no money in Taxol, and no money in insulin, since those are all natural products, too.

By: Mike Jozefiak

Mike Jozefiak — Sun, 22 May 2011 09:58:33 +0000

I agree Bill, although until governments stop believing everything Big Pharma tells them, phages will not be used routinely any time soon. There is no money in using natural phages, just as there is no money to be made from advising people to eat better and exercise more. . Sadly, it all comes down to Daddy Big Bucks. The science and evidence are both there, so why is nothing happening? Answers on the back of a postage stamp to ……….

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sun, 22 May 2011 08:33:03 +0000

There was also a good discussion of bacteriophage therapy on This Week in Microbiology a few weeks back. Link in my name.
I am very excited about phage therapy, problem is that we need a large library of them because they are so specific to particular bacterial strains. We will get there one day!

By: Drone

Drone — Sun, 22 May 2011 06:46:05 +0000

The Russians have been using phage therapy for years. Now the West has this “new” idea. Well, it will never come to be. Some Lawyer-driven Patent Troll will make it impossible to afford.