The 30-year-old bombing attack victim was treated for 700 days with antibiotics.
The patient had suffered life-threatening injuries during the attacks at the airport. She was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217
The clinicians decided to use a combination of antibiotics and specialized viruses to fight the disease. Her case has been described in Nature Communications.
phage therapy is one of the most promising new tools in our arsenal, as superbug infections are becoming an increasingly serious health issue.
Normally, a subset of strains ofbacteria that belong to a single species, however, clinicians have been working on personalized forms of phage therapy, where phages from a prepared bank are selected by analyzing the strains isolated from the patient's infections
If enough time and resources are available, clinicians can choose a pre-adapted phage mutants that has an increased capacity for infecting the patient's specific type of bacterium. The last decade has seen a rise in this type of research.
The clinicians behind this patient's case study explain that most phage treatments developed by western countries are generalized "cocktails" which don't take into account the evolutionary battle between thebacteria and phages that often makes them so specific to each other.
In recent randomized controlled trials, static phage cocktails showed disappointing results, which contrast with those of an increasing number of case studies using phages as adjunctive therapy, or preadapted phages that are more effective against the infectingbacteria.
Klebsiella pneumoniae, a particularly nasty superbug that forms persistent biofilms which enable it to bounce back from repeated antibiotic treatments, was the cause of the patient's drug-resistant infection.
Biofilms are structures created bybacteria attached to the surface of implants or avascular tissue fragments. The ability of biofilms to survive and recover from antibiotic treatment is dependent on a subpopulation of metabolismally dormant cells.
There is still a lack of data on the effectiveness of phage therapy for resistant infections, as well as the potential of any adverse effects that may come to patients.
The doctors applied the phages locally to the areas that were affected. A short course of phage treatment was chosen to minimize the chance of the patient's immune system responding negatively.
Three months after the treatment, the patient's condition dramatically improved.
The combination of a personalized phage treatment and a longer course of antibiotics formed a sort of one-two punch, where the phages were able to break down the defensive biofilms, allowing the antibiotics a clear path to finally eliminate the bacterial infection.
The data shows that the combination of phage and antibiotics was more effective than antibiotics in reducing the number of K. pneumoniae.
There were no negative outcomes associated with the use of phages. Three months after the initiation of the therapy, the woman's condition had vastly improved, and her wound was finally healing properly.
The clinicians were able to stop the antibiotic treatment after 798 days, and the patient was able to slowly regain mobility.
The authors write that the case study can open a new way of thinking about phage therapy.
The study was published in a journal.
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