Treatment with phages was successful in 11 of 20 patients without any side effects. In five patients the success of the therapy was unclear and in four patients there was no improvement. Each of these patients was infected with one or more strains of mycobacteria, which cause treatment-resistant infections that are often fatal in people with a weakened immune system or with the lung disease cystic fibrosis. In some patients, the immune system attacked the phages, but only occasionally rendered them ineffective. Sometimes treatment was successful even despite the immune response, a research team reports in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
“These infections are a nightmare for doctors: they are less common than other types of infections, but they are among the most difficult to treat with antibiotics. Especially when antibiotics have to be taken over a long period of time, they are not very well tolerated,” explained Prof. Graham Hatfull from the University of Pittsburgh. It is therefore not surprising that since 2019 his team has received more than 200 inquiries from other doctors looking for treatments for their patients. Together they then look for phages that could be effective against the bacterial strains of those patients. “These are incredibly brave doctors who are pursuing an experimental therapy to help their patients who have no other option,” Hatfull said. The team continues to work on the great challenge of finding or developing suitable phages for each bacterial strain so that treatment can be considered for all patients.
Sources: DOI 10.1093/cid/ciac453