Bacteriophage Therapy: An Alternative Strategy to Combat Drug Resistance

The Guardian: outbreak of drug-resistant infection could kill 80,000 in UK, report warns

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“Much of modern medicine (for example, organ transplantation, bowel surgery and some cancer treatments) may become unsafe due to the risk of infection."

“In addition, influenza pandemics would become more serious without effective treatments.”

“If we don’t take action, in 20 years’ time we could be back in the 19th century where infections kill us as a result of routine operations.”

The prime Minister David Cameron (UK)

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ESKAPE bacteria

From Medscape Infectious Diseases:
Emerging Antibiotics: Will We Have What We Need?

" * More US patients die of MRSA infections than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.
 * Only 2 new antibiotics -- doripenem and telavancin -- have been approved in the past 3 years.
* We have no drugs to treat infections with some strains of multi-drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli, like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii.We may finally have arrived at the era of the untreatable bacterial infection."The ESKAPE ( they effectively escape the effects of antibiotics)

E	Enterococcus faecium	Third most common cause of HCA BSI. Increasing resistance to vancomycin.
S	Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)	Emerging resistance to current drugs and significant drug toxicities. Lack of oral agents for step-down therapy
K	Klebsiella Escherichia coli K pneumoniae	ESBL-producing organisms increasing in frequency and severity; associated with increasing mortality. K pneumoniae carbapenemases causing severe infections in LTCF. Few active agents; nothing in development
A	Acinetobacter baumannii	Increasing worldwide, recent surge reported in hospitals. Very high mortality. Carbapenem-resistant.
P	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Increasing P. aeruginosa infections in US and worldwide. Resistant to carbapenems, quinolones, aminoglycosides
E	Enterobacter species	MDR HCA infections increasing; resistance via ESBLs, carbapenemases, and cephalosporinases

HCA = healthcare associated; BSI = bloodstream infection; MRSA = methicillin resistant S aureus; ESBL = extended-spectrum beta-lactamase; LTCF = long-term care facility; MDR = multiple drug-resistant

Antibiotic resistance: a worldwide problem

From WHO document:
" ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE,Global Report on surveillance"


 A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century.
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Escherichia coli: Resistance to third-generation cephalosporins
Escherichia coli: Resistance to fluoroquinolones
Klebsiella pneumoniae: Resistance to third-generation cephalosporins
Klebsiella pneumoniae: Resistance to carbapenems
Staphylococcus aureus: Resistance to methicillin (MRSA)
Streptococcus pneumoniae: Resistance, or non-susceptibility, to penicillin
Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS): Resistance to fluoroquinolones                                                                             
Shigella species: Resistance to fluoroquinolones
Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Decreased susceptibility to third-generation cephalosporins.

Resistance map