Actually, the cystic fibrosis story is very FUNNY ! - In fact one of the
phages (D3, I beleive) causes a lysogenic conversion for Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, the species that complicates matters for cystic fibrosis
patients. The lysogenic conversion results in increased alginate
production leading to more mucus etc. Here is a case where untested
phage therapy could lead to further complications of disease. I wonder
if that really happened to cystic fibrosis patients who inhaled viral
aerosols........
Dele Ogunseitan
Department of Environmental Analysis and Design
University of California
Irvine
On 22 Mar 1996, Nicholas Landau wrote:
>klasteos at student.dtu.dk ("Steen OEstergaard ", c917243) writes:
>> >Dear reader,
>> >Behind the retorical question in my 'Subject' is the idea of using virulent
> >bacteriophages for killing antibiotic resistant bacteria. A well chosen virus
> >should be able to pass through a mammal digestion system and infect the
> >resistant bacterium when it gets in contact with it.
>> >I would like comments to this idea, if you have any.
>> I do not have a citation for you, just something a colleague told
> me during a chat. His specialty is bacterial adhesion, and we were
> discussing the problems of cystic fibrosis patients in that their
> lungs become mired with exopolysaccharides of bacterial origin.
>> He mentioned that, before effective surfactant and antibiotic
> treatments had been developed, patients were given viral suspensions
> in aerosol by inhalation. The bacteriophage would control the
> density of the bacterial populations for a short time.
>> Sorry, but that's all I know about that one. As far as I can see,
> there is no reason why this method of therapy would not work.
>> Nicholas Landau
> Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology
> Rutgers University
>>>
