Are bacteriophages pathogenic to humans?
Here, we introduce the concept of bacteriophages as human pathogens. Recent discoveries made by our and other scientific research teams provide evidence that bacteriophages are overlooked human pathogens, implied in the triggering, and worsening of a number of human diseases [19,20,35].
How effective is phage therapy?
The efficacy of phage treatment was 92% (marked clinical improvements) and 84% (bacteriological clearance). Phages administered subcutaneously or through surgical drains in 236 patients having antibiotic-resistant infections eliminated the infections in 92% of the patients.
What biosafety level is bacteriophage?
Phages handled in laboratories that are engineered to present no biological risks to human health can be handled in BSL-1.
What diseases do bacteriophage cause?
These include diphtheria, botulism, Staphylococcus aureus infections (i.e. skin and pulmonary infections, food poisoning, and toxic shock syndrome), Streptococcus infections, Pasteurella infections, cholera, Shiga toxing-producing Shigella and Escherichia coli infections, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.
Are bacteriophages good or bad?
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria but are harmless to humans. To reproduce, they get into a bacterium, where they multiply, and finally they break the bacterial cell open to release the new viruses. Therefore, bacteriophages kill bacteria.
Are bacteriophages good for humans?
From the 1920s to the 1950s, scientists investigated whether bacteriophages could be used to treat bacterial infections. After all, these viruses are adept at destroying human pathogens. Scientists found that phage therapy was both effective and, importantly, free from side effects.
Why are bacteriophages not used?
With the exception of treatment options available in a few countries, phages have been largely abandoned as a treatment for bacterial infection. One main reason is because antibiotics have been working well enough over the past 50 years that most countries have not re-initiated a study on the clinical uses of phages.
Why is phage therapy not used?
Phage therapy isn’t yet approved for people in the United States or in Europe. There has been experimental phage use in a few rare cases only. One reason for this is because antibiotics are more easily available and are considered to be safer to use.
Is a bacteriophage good or bad?
Bacteriophage means “eater of bacteria,” and these spidery-looking viruses may be the most abundant life-form on the planet. HIV, Hepatitis C, and Ebola have given viruses a bad name, but microscopic phages are the good guys of the virology world.
Why are bacteriophages harmful to humans?
When the phage infects a new bacterium, it introduces the original host bacterium’s DNA into the new bacterium. In this way, phages can introduce a gene that is harmful to humans (e.g., an antibiotic resistance gene or a toxin) from one bacterium to another.