Why don't we use Viruses to Fight Diseases for Us?

Antibiotic resistance is becoming a big problem, some strains of pathogens are now resistant to all antibiotics normally used in hospitals. But there is an alternative, using viruses that infect bacteria, bacteriophages, to fight the battle for us. This isn’t a new idea, in fact, Phage Therapy predates antibiotics; and for a time was greatly effective and uses in the Soviet Union. So why did Phage Therapy not find use in the west.

Read More:

The strange history of phage therapy, William C. Summers, Bacteriophage. 2012 Apr 1; 2(2): 130–133.

Pros and cons of phage therapy, Catherine Loc-Carrillo and Stephen T Abedon, Bacteriophage. 2011 Mar-Apr; 1(2): 111–114.

Phage treatment of human infections, Stephen T Abedon, Sarah J Kuhl, Bob G Blasdel and Elizabeth Martin Kutter, Bacteriophage. 2011 Mar-Apr; 1(2): 66–85.

[AdamSmith-gsdv]

I think phages could be used as a last ditch effort when all antibiotics fail to kill an infection. Also with CRISPER these little guys have become alot more versatile than in the past.

[AllAboutEverythingTV]

I've heard some doubts regarding phage therapy, mostly due to things such as the specificity of what it attacks and the marketability of trying to sell a "virus", but I'm really interested to see how this pans out in the future. Great video, I think you summed this up pretty well.

[marleymae]

A Soliloquy video! Just what I needed today

[MonsieurDean]

I've been hearing a good deal about phages. Nicely covered, pally!

[Horesmi]

I'm actually using bacterophages right now. They seem to be effective.

[MacCoalieCoalson]

The bacteriophage also evolves to hunt its targets more effectively.

[rpm.]

I saw a TV program years ago about phage medicine in Russia. They where collecting the phages from a sewer if I remember correctly but in the end the centre ran out of money and the refrigerators stopped running and all their phages where lost. Quite sad.

[TheFabler]

Well worth the wait mate. The animations are getting better (complicated) and I guess that's one reason for making us wait. =)

[xaivierpoixlife]

Pretty funny that Kurtzgesat released a video about phages shortly after you! Great video as usual!

[Donthaveacowbra]

I worked with page therapy for development of a treatment against etec infection in pigs. All that I will say is basically resistance develops rapidly in bacterial populations. My role was development of bacteriophage insensitive mutants and boy can I make them quick but I was unable to revert them to susceptible. While I won't doubt that phage therapy will be a tool in our arsenal, I also don't think it's as efficacious as one might hope.

[heli]

My buddy is working on this right now actually, I hope he succeeds

[Soosss]

love ur videos been watching for years

[mafarmerga]

Excellent review of phage therapy. The other advantage is that phage, like their target bacteria, can evolve. So even without CRISPR modifications nature should allow us to select for those phage strains that are most effective at targetting specific pathogens.

[sion]

I just find it interesting that this therapy was in the hands of the "enemy" all these years. I mean the patentability of antibiotics did help private companies in wanting to invest in them instead of viruses, however, the therapy was liked by the enemies of the "West" which just made it harder to be taken seriously in the U.S. and the rest of Europe.

In the fight against super bugs, we need all the help we can get, whether is this as well as CRISPR among other possible solutions. This video also points out one of the biggest reasons why we have the current problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria, it was easier to give a reliable general solution than a more direct solution given the fact that it took so much more tests to be sure what the patient may have had. Hopefully, we stop giving antibiotics like candy, also why not also give two different types of antibiotics instead of one? Switching between them would probably limit bacteria gaining resistance from a single type, some exterminators do this to kill pests.

[MarcAlexandrePaquette]

0:37 was that a Second Thought reference?

[quillmaurer]

Seems like a really good idea, a way of treating hard-to-treat bacterial infections with minimal side effects. It seems to me like an idea ahead of it's time, found to be impractical and discarded before relevant technology was developed to make it useful. But with gene editing technology, and maybe improved lab technology allowing quicker and easier results (say an automated diagnosis process where a sample can be dropped in a machine on-site rather than sent off to a lab for analysis), I could imagine this making a comeback. Maybe eventually a machine one inserts a sample into, and a few hours later it dispenses a pill filled with phages to kill the infection. This could also be used outside one's body, say put anti-cholera phages in the rivers and other water supplies of developing countries to kill those diseases from the water before people even drink it. If phages are self-replicating when they infect target bacteria, a very small amount could just keep spreading until the disease is basically wiped out from a given source.

But what about viruses? It seems the worst and most untreatable illnesses these days are not bacteria but viruses, such as HIV, and of course the Coronavirus that has kept everyone at home the past year. I don't see how a virus could attack another virus. Maybe bacteria that act like antibodies? Or maybe spread through a population a relatively harmless virus that has similar markers to the more dangerous one, resulting in antibody development, basically resulting in a contagious vaccine. Come to think of it that's where the idea of vaccinations developed in the first place, it was found that those who had been infected with relatively harmless cowpox were immune to the much more dangerous smallpox, leading to efforts to deliberately infect people with cowpox. Such efforts were actually quite effective, though not popular.

[odinswolf]

Thanks i love the papers please reference.

[BGerbs]

Are there any phage companies we can invest in?

[teddyfield]

Antibiotics age 37 rating 95 potential 95 going down

Phages age 17 rating 83 potential 99 going up greatly

[edenbyli]

lol any inspiration from Kurzgegast?
Edit: it’s probably the other way round