Scientists are exploring the use of bacteriophages (phages) as a potential solution to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Phages are viruses that specifically target and kill bacteria, and they offer a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance threatens many of the gains of modern medicine, making even routine surgery much riskier. Some scientists believe phages, lurking in every corner of the planet, offer hope. Phages are viruses that, like their prey, are found in practically every corner of Earth. Scientists have discovered them deep within the Mariana Trench, lurking in tropical rainforests, in the muck of sewage, bathing in hot springs and, yes, right there on your skin.
They’ve been described as the deadliest beings on the planet and in pure numbers it’s hard to argue with that. It’s estimated, in Earth’s oceans alone, bacteriophages infect and kill an amount of bacteria equivalent to 20% of the Earth’s biomass every day. Like all viruses, bacteriophages are a simple arrangement of proteins and genetic material, an unthinking sort-of-life with a single goal – to replicate. Bacteriophages come in many forms. Under powerful electron microscopes, some look like delicate dandelions. Others appear as alien moon landers with a boxy, 20-sided head and spindly legs. A phage uses its spindly legs to attach to a bacterium wall, then injects the DNA enveloped in its head into the microbe. Once inside, the DNA turns the infected bacterium into a phage factory; instructing the host’s machinery to create and assemble thousands upon thousands of copies of the phage. The baby-phages secrete a molecule that splits apart the bacterium, killing it and allowing newly formed phages to find another host and begin the cycle anew. These expeditions to find new phages are emblematic of a worldwide scientific hunt, based on the belief the viruses can help tackle AMR. “Phages are probably the leading solution,” says Ameneh Khatami, an infectious diseases paediatrician at the Children’s hospital at Westmead and member of Phage Australia, a network of researchers and clinicians professionalising the use of phage therapy to treat infections.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE BACTERIOPHAGES SUPERBUGS AMR PHAGE THERAPY
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