Bacteriophages kill bacteria by making them burst or lyse. This happens when the virus binds to the bacteria. A virus infects the bacteria by injecting its genes (DNA or RNA). The phage virus copies itself (reproduces) inside the bacteria.

There are two primary types of bacteriophages: lytic bacteriophages and temperate bacteriophages. Bacteriophages that replicate through the lytic life cycle are called lytic bacteriophages, and are so named because they lyse the host bacterium as a normal part of their life cycle.

Bacteriophages are much more specific than antibiotics. They are typically harmless not only to the host organism but also to other beneficial bacteria, such as the gut microbiota, reducing the chances of opportunistic infections.

A team led by Dr Martha Clokie has isolated bacteriophages — viruses that ‘eat’ bacteria — targeting the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile or C. difficile. Bacteriophages were discovered and used as a therapy for bacterial infections almost 100 years ago, long before the development of antibiotics.

Bacteriophage means “eater of bacteria,” and these spidery-looking viruses may be the most abundant life-form on the planet. HIV, Hepatitis C, and Ebola have given viruses a bad name, but microscopic phages are the good guys of the virology world.

With the exception of treatment options available in a few countries, phages have been largely abandoned as a treatment for bacterial infection. One main reason is because antibiotics have been working well enough over the past 50 years that most countries have not re-initiated a study on the clinical uses of phages.

Low inherent toxicity. Since phages consist mostly of nucleic acids and proteins, they are inherently nontoxic. However, phages can interact with immune systems, at least potentially resulting in harmful immune responses, though there is little evidence that this actually is a concern during phage treatment.

Scientists investigated phages that can kill the world’s leading superbug, Acinetobacter baumannii, which is responsible for up to 20% of infections in intensive care units. A major risk of being hospitalized is catching a bacterial infection.

One of those is the Phage Therapy Centre, an American-owned subsidiary which is bringing foreign patients to Tbilisi for phage treatments on diabetic foot, burns, ulcers, osteomyelitis, and drug-resistant infections such as MRSA. A course of treatment costs between US$8000 and $20 000.

Under the FDA emergency Investigational New Drug allowance, Adaptive Phage Therapeutics has been allowed to administer their phage therapy to 30 COVID19 critical patients, in those cases, the standard care of antibiotics have failed. …

Human phage therapy has been practiced in France since 1919, when d’Hérelle first successfully treated several children at the Hospital des Enfants Malades in Paris who were suffering from severe dysentery, using the phage he had first isolated from the stools of soldiers he had observed at the Pasteur Institute.

If you’re unable to travel or would like to pursue phage therapy at your local medical center: You’ll need to find a doctor who is willing to provide phage therapy (this should be done by first speaking with your own family physician or infectious disease specialist).

The efficacy of phage treatment was 92% (marked clinical improvements) and 84% (bacteriological clearance). Phages administered subcutaneously or through surgical drains in 236 patients having antibiotic-resistant infections eliminated the infections in 92% of the patients.

Seven best natural antibiotics

1. Garlic. Cultures across the world have long recognized garlic for its preventive and curative powers.
2. Honey. Since the time of Aristotle, honey has been used as an ointment that helps wounds to heal and prevents or draws out infection.
3. Ginger.
4. Echinacea.
5. Goldenseal.
6. Clove.
7. Oregano.

These include diphtheria, botulism, Staphylococcus aureus infections (i.e. skin and pulmonary infections, food poisoning, and toxic shock syndrome), Streptococcus infections, Pasteurella infections, cholera, Shiga toxing-producing Shigella and Escherichia coli infections, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.

A bacteriophage (/bækˈtɪərioʊfeɪdʒ/), also known informally as a phage (/ˈfeɪdʒ/), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. Phages replicate within the bacterium following the injection of their genome into its cytoplasm.

When they attack a bacterium, bacteriophages can multiply very quickly until the bacterium bursts and releases lots of new phages. Trillions of bacteria and bacteriophages live in and on the human body and they are vital for a normal, healthy life.

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a widespread plant pathogen, is found in tobacco (including cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) as well as in many other plants. Plant viruses do not replicate or cause infection in humans or other mammals.

Many latent and asymptomatic viruses are present in the human body all the time. Viruses infect all life forms; therefore the bacterial, plant, and animal cells and material in our gut also carry viruses. When viruses cause harm by infecting the cells in the body, a symptomatic disease may develop.