{"id":3026,"date":"2020-02-17T17:31:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T07:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=wimr_news&p=3026"},"modified":"2024-09-30T18:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:26:34","slug":"new-research-demonstrates-safety-of-phage-therapy","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/new-research-demonstrates-safety-of-phage-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"New research demonstrates safety of phage therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

New research has demonstrated the safety of bacteriophage therapy in treating severe staphylococcus aureus infections in the blood, a step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Professor Jon Iredell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bacteriophage or \u2018phage\u2019 is a virus that selectively attacks bacteria. Phage therapy was used for centuries to treat bacterial infections, but was largely replaced when antibiotics became widely available.<\/p>\n

Researchers are now revisiting the use of phage therapy to treat bacterial infections that are growing increasingly resistant to current antibiotic treatments.<\/p>\n

Lead researcher of the study, Professor Jon Iredell from The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) said, \u201cAntibiotic resistance is a rapidly emerging threat to global health. Because of this, phage therapy is experiencing a renaissance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that phage therapy has the potential to treat infections, but evidence of its safety and effectiveness, particularly from clinical trials, is currently limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study investigated whether phage therapy is safe in treating severe\u00a0Staphylococcus aureus\u00a0<\/em>bacteraemia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staphylococcus aureus\u00a0<\/em>bacteraemia occurs when bacteria enters the bloodstream. This can lead to life threatening conditions, including infective endocarditis (an infection of the heart) and sepsis (a severe immune response to infection).<\/p>\n

The research team administered phage therapy intravenously to 13 patients with severe\u00a0Staphylococcus aureus\u00a0<\/em>infections. The patients also received treatment with antibiotics at the same time.<\/p>\n

Professor Iredell said, \u201cOur patients did not show any signs of adverse reaction from the phage therapy.
\n\u201cImportantly, our phage was produced under Goods Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which ensure the quality of therapeutic products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that research has been able to show that IV-administered phage therapy, produced under GMP conditions is safe and well-tolerated in people with severe\u00a0Staphylococcus aureus\u00a0<\/em>infections.\u201d
\nRates of antibiotic resistance are increasing worldwide, making it harder to treat common infections, such as urinary tract infections, and certain sexually transmissible infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t combat this threat, we may reach a point where infections that were previously simple to treat will become untreatable,\u201d Professor Iredell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntibiotic resistance is a huge threat to our health system \u2013 we wouldn\u2019t be able to perform certain life-saving treatments, such as transplantation and cancer therapy, without effective treatment against infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore evidence in support of phage is still needed before it\u2019s offered to patients on a larger scale.
\n\u201cHowever, our study makes it clear that it could, potentially, offer a safe treatment for serious infections, and help reduce the impact of antibiotic resistance,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

The research was published in\u00a0Nature Microbiology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor Jon Iredell is the Director of WIMR\u2019s Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Senior Staff Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Westmead Hospital, and Professor of Medicine and Microbiology (conj.) at Sydney Medical School.<\/em><\/p>\n

Authors: Dr Aleksandra Petrovic Fabijan (WIMR); Associate Professor Ruby Lin (WIMR; WSLHD; University of Sydney; UNSW); Dr Susan Maddocks (WSLHD, University of Sydney); Dr Nouri Ben Zakour (WIMR; University of Sydney); Professor Jon Iredell.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Westmead Bacteriophage Therapy Team: Dr Ali Khalid (WIMR; University of Sydney); Dr Carola Venturini (WIMR; University of Sydney), Professor Richard Chard (WSLHD, University of Sydney), Dr Indy Sandaradura (WSLHD; University of Sydney), Dr Tim Gilbey (WSLHD).\u00a0<\/em><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New research has demonstrated the safety of bacteriophage therapy in treating severe staphylococcus aureus infections in the blood, a step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophage or \u2018phage\u2019 is a virus that selectively attacks bacteria. Phage therapy was used for centuries to treat bacterial infections, but was largely replaced when antibiotics became widely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3027,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-3026","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/3026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}