Phage treatment of human infections

Abstract

Phages as bactericidal agents have been employed for 90 years as a means of treating bacterial infections in humans as well as other species, a process known as phage therapy. In this review we explore both the early historical and more modern use of phages to treat human infections. We discuss in particular the little-reviewed French early work, along with the Polish, US, Georgian and Russian historical experiences. We also cover other, more modern examples of phage therapy of humans as differentiated in terms of disease. In addition, we provide discussions of phage safety, other aspects of phage therapy pharmacology, and the idea of phage use as probiotics.

Figure 1

This figure, based on the data in the 1943 mouse studies of Rene Dubos, provides significant insight into why phage therapy works well even in treating infections that antibiotics can't reach. When he injected the mice intraperitoneally with 10⁹ phages, they quickly appeared in the blood stream, entering the brain, but they were rapidly cleared. However, if the mice were also injected intracerebrally with Shigella dysenteriae, the host for these phages, then 46/64 of the mice survived (as compared with 3/84 in the absence of appropriate viable phage) and the brain level of phage climbed to over 10⁹ per gram. Once the bacteria were cleared, phage levels dropped below detection limits.