Phage therapy: Scientists use viruses to fight antibiotic resistance

The concept of phage therapy is to use viruses (called bacteriophages) to kill bacteria instead of antibiotics

Bacteriophage (abbreviated as phage) is a virus that kills bacteria

However, despite some significant case studies where phage therapy works in individuals, research still encounters some obstacles

So far, experiments have mainly focused on exposing bacteria to phages in flasks

Now, researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a new method to simulate these microenvironments in which individual bacteria colonize specific areas

Using this method, the research team found that in these microenvironments, Escherichia coli (a type of bacteria that often causes food poisoning) is genetically not resistant to bacteriophages, and most bacterial populations are killed by bacteriophages

Dr.

The research, published in the journal "Public Library of Science Biology", laid the foundation for understanding how the environment affects the interaction between bacteria and phages, which is necessary for the development of successful phage therapies to overcome the current crisis of antimicrobial resistance Vital

The team also discovered that in these microenvironments, some E.

Professor Edze Westra co-author of the University of Exeter, said: "A key aspect of whether bacteriophages can kill the bacteria that have a number of bacteria phage receptor,

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), which is the science department of the British Defense and Security Department

Journal Reference :

1. Erin L.