Viruses that could save millions of lives

It may seem strange after the Pandemic that has killed millions and turned the world upside down, but viruses could save many lives.

In a laboratory in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, there is a battle going on between antibiotic resistantbacteria and friendly viruses.

The small nation in the Caucasus has pioneered research on a new way to fight the looming nightmare ofbacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

The Belgian woman who developed a life-threatening infection after being injured in the 2016 Brussels airport bombing is one of the most difficult medical cases to treat.

After two years of unsuccessful antibiotic treatment, the infections were cured in three months.

The Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages uses phages to cure patients when antibiotics fail.

Even a banal infection can kill a patient because the pathogen has developed resistance to antibiotics.

She said that phagotherapy is one of the best alternatives.

After antibiotics changed medicine in the 1930s, phages were largely forgotten and dismissed.

Stalin's henchman.

The man who did most to develop them was executed in 1937 on the orders of another Georgian, Lavrentiy Beria, the most notorious henchman of Stalin.

Stalin invited Eliava to Tbilisi in 1934 after he worked in the Pasteur Institute in Paris with a French-Canadian microbiologist.

Their collaboration was cut short when Eliava was killed by Beria.

With the World Health Organization now declaring antimicrobial resistance a global health crisis, phages are making a comeback, especially as they can targetbacteria while leaving human cells intact.

A recent study warned that antibiotic resistance could kill as many as 10 million people a year when it reaches a tipping point. It could happen within three decades.

Training viruses.

Researchers say that phages-based medicines can't replace antibiotics completely, but they have major pluses in being cheap and not having side-effects.

The Eliava Institute produces six standard phages that can heal multiple infectious diseases.

She said that standard phages don't work in 10% to 15% of patients.

The world's richest collection of phages can be used to target rare infections.

The institute can train the phages so that they can kill more and more harmfulbacteria.

She said that it is a cheap and easy therapy.

The last resort treatment.

After two weeks at the Tbilisi institute, a 34 year old American mechanical engineer said he felt better after six years of suffering from a chronic bacterial disease.

Andrew, who would only give his first name, said that he had tried every possible treatment in the United States.

He is one of hundreds of patients from around the world who come to Georgia every year for last-resort treatment.

More clinical studies are needed so that phagotherapy can be more widely approved.

The FDA authorized a study on the use of bacteriophages to cure secondary infections in COVID patients.

Beyond medicine, phages are already being used to stop food going off and they can be used in agriculture to protect crops and animals from harmfulbacteria.

The institute has conducted research on cotton and rice.

Canadian researchers published a study on the use of Bacteriophages to counter an Anthrax attack on crowded public places.

There will be a new year in 2022.

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