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They're highly specific, and are harder to administer. They're usually stored in glass phials which need to be kept in a refrigerator. Stomach acid needs to
by DonaldFisk 4y ago
They're highly specific, and are harder to administer. They're usually stored in glass phials which need to be kept in a refrigerator. Stomach acid needs to be neutralized if they're taken orally. If administered by injection, the strain used can only be used once as the body develops antibodies to it. Most of the scientific literature on them is in either Georgian or (if you're lucky) Russian.
They're not without their problems, but there are also problems with antibiotics (bacterial resistance, penicillin allergy). So why not use them whenever use of antibiotics is problematic? They're cheap, and reproduce at a phenomenal rate. They were used successfully in the Soviet Union, and are still being used in Georgia.
- John23832 4y agoI'm not saying that they can't be used. They can. People often take new(ish) tech as a cure-all. There are still challenges though. For bacteria with high resistance (which is what we have the biggest issue with), we've typically done a workup of the bacterium to target. In the worst case, these are what land people in the hospital. Hospital settings would be the best administration point for these therapies. The problem would still be the creation of the specific phages in a reasonable fashion. This would only really be available at major hospitals in major cities. And so... limited in usage. I could see major hospitals keeping a large amount of gonococcal phages on hand though. Edit:: One more thing. As far as antibiotic allergies (you mentioned beta lactams) we typically have antibiotic alternatives. Doxycycline is pretty much well tolerated by everyone. And it's available in pill form.