3 ms·

> Bacteriophages were once used as a treatment in the U.S. and Europe, but when penicillin came to the market in the 1950s, their use was largely abandoned outs

by tener 9y ago

> Bacteriophages were once used as a treatment in the U.S. and Europe, but when penicillin came to the market in the 1950s, their use was largely abandoned outside of Russia and Poland. I wonder what insights into safety of those therapies doctors in Russia and Poland have to offer.

frenchy 9y ago
I believe the general problem with bacterial viruses, is that our body mounts a immune response against them.[1] It works okay for a little bit, but because our immune system "learns" (e.g. clonal selection) the second time they are used they aren't usually effective. I've read that they kept being used in Russia because Russia didn't have the industrial capacity for antibiotic production & refinement. It would be interesting to know if the Russian/Polish medical communities learned anything novel about bacterial viruses though. [1] Our immune system doesn't know that they're harmless, and the tricks that some viruses use to avoid are immune system are typically harmful to us, so you wouldn't want to use those ones.
tener 9y ago
After some research: according to Wikipedia [1] there only place in EU that is researching the phage therapy is a Polish institute of experimental medicine [2]. They offer paid therapies for patients at least 6 years old. Both pages in Polish, use Google Translate to read. [1] https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terapia_fagowa https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terapia_fagowa [2] http://www.iitd.pan.wroc.pl/pl/OTF/ http://www.iitd.pan.wroc.pl/pl/OTF/
DonaldFisk 9y ago
The Soviet Union, not just Russia.
tim333 9y ago
I enquired a bit for a friend. There seems almost no danger of the phages adversely affecting humans. The bigger danger is probably that they can't find a phage that works and you get ill when other treatments may have worked better. I was enquiring for a friend who has a drug resistant urinary tract infection. You can fedex a urine sample to Tbilisi and for $200 they'll check if they have phages for the bacteria.

by tener 9y ago

frenchy 9y ago

I believe the general problem with bacterial viruses, is that our body mounts a immune response against them.[1] It works okay for a little bit, but because our immune system "learns" (e.g. clonal selection) the second time they are used they aren't usually effective. I've read that they kept being used in Russia because Russia didn't have the industrial capacity for antibiotic production & refinement. It would be interesting to know if the Russian/Polish medical communities learned anything novel about bacterial viruses though. [1] Our immune system doesn't know that they're harmless, and the tricks that some viruses use to avoid are immune system are typically harmful to us, so you wouldn't want to use those ones.

tener 9y ago

After some research: according to Wikipedia [1] there only place in EU that is researching the phage therapy is a Polish institute of experimental medicine [2]. They offer paid therapies for patients at least 6 years old. Both pages in Polish, use Google Translate to read. [1] https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terapia_fagowa https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terapia_fagowa [2] http://www.iitd.pan.wroc.pl/pl/OTF/ http://www.iitd.pan.wroc.pl/pl/OTF/

DonaldFisk 9y ago

The Soviet Union, not just Russia.

tim333 9y ago

I enquired a bit for a friend. There seems almost no danger of the phages adversely affecting humans. The bigger danger is probably that they can't find a phage that works and you get ill when other treatments may have worked better. I was enquiring for a friend who has a drug resistant urinary tract infection. You can fedex a urine sample to Tbilisi and for $200 they'll check if they have phages for the bacteria.