Difference between revisions of "Phage therapy"

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:Due to poor scientific experimentation, understanding of pathogenesis, phage-host interactions, and pharmacokinetics knowledge, bacteriophages soon lost interest in the western world as antibiotics and penicillin was discovered. However research continued in the eastern Europe in the Soviet era where two prominent research centers established, The Eliava Institute (EIBMV) in 1923 and The Hirszfeld Institute (HIIET) in 1952. Both continue to research bacteriophages presently. With new knowledge bacteriophages properties and due to increasingly drug resistant bacteria, bacteriophages has been brought to light again in the fight against disease.
:Due to poor scientific experimentation, understanding of pathogenesis, phage-host interactions, and pharmacokinetics knowledge, bacteriophages soon lost interest in the western world as antibiotics and penicillin was discovered. However research continued in the eastern Europe in the Soviet era where two prominent research centers established, The Eliava Institute (EIBMV) in 1923 and The Hirszfeld Institute (HIIET) in 1952. Both continue to research bacteriophages presently. With new knowledge bacteriophages properties and due to increasingly drug resistant bacteria, bacteriophages has been brought to light again in the fight against disease.
== Present Day Phage Therapy in Animals ==
Present day research on phage therapy in gram negative bacteria in animals have been very extensive and promising.
With a better understanding of phage therapy and more advanced equipment, modern day phage therapy can close the gaps in experimental accuracy and knowledge that was missing in the past. Using blood culture machines and better filtration methods, such as caesium chloride density centrifugation, have lead the better understanding of host-phage relationships such as longer-circulating strains of phage [nih11]. This has led to more efficient phage therapy techniques. With the knowledge of heat effects on phages, control groups observe differences in bacteriophage effect, therefore eliminating immunologic response variation in experiments. The National Institute of Health has done extensive controls on phage therapy on Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium in mice, where single injection of phage administered 45 min after bacterium contact rescued 100% of mice compared to 100% fatality when no phage was administered [m10]. Numerous studies have shown substantial efficacy of phage on gram negative bacteria in calves, pigs, mice, and lamb[soothill01].
Extensive studies of phage therapy on gram negative bacteria have already been proved extremely effective [soothill, smith hw]. Experimentation of E. coli done on in vivo mice showed that bacteriophages were more efficient in vivo experimenation than in vitro. [59] Research on calves showed that one injection of specific phage strain 8 hours after contact with E coli protected the calves from death and diarrhoea, and again the in vitro experimentation underestimated the virulence of phage. Futhermore, different strains of phage were tested for efficiency in isolated does and cocktail formulas [60]. Some strains were proven more effective than leading antibiotics []. [soothill experiments needed].


== Questions and Specific Aims ==
== Questions and Specific Aims ==
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