The Forgotten Cure: Chapters 1-4

Describe the role that locusts, dysentery and war had in the discovery of bacteriophage.

Locusts, dysentery, and war played a unique role in the discovery of bacteriophage. During World War I, troops struggled as dysentery plagued their ranks as they lived in incredibly tight quarters with shared space, food, and water. This created a sense of desperation surrounding the situation of dysentery, as troops were suffering major losses and were unable to perform at their peak capacity. Felix d’Herelle, a microbiologist of the time, was working with bacteria cultures when he noticed strange clearings that appeared “randomly” on the plates. Upon further investigation, d’Herelle developed methods to consistently obtain these clearings and he concluded that there was a specimen so small that could be considered invisible that was infecting the bacteria and killing them. When he proved that this specimen was capable of curing individuals rather rapidly of dysentery, the discovery was lauded and the new specimen gained immense popularity, which led to many more people becoming interested and studying bacteriophage.

Discuss the characteristics of d’Herelle that led him to be a successful scientist. How did he compare to Georgi Eliava?  What happened to the Eliava’s?

Felix d’Herelle consistently displayed that he was devoted to the field of science above all else. This dedication allowed him to gain experience in a variety of ways, such as d’Herelle taking an unpaid position at a prestigious scientific organization. His curiosity and drive to learn provided a large basis of his skills that made him a successful scientist. Furthermore, d’Herelle was also very confident and extraordinarily particular about how his lab work was performed. These qualities made for a scientist who was suited for publishing new concepts, as his confidence allowed him to display resilience even when critical articles or other roadblocks were in his way. Georgi Eliava was similar to d’Herelle in regard to their upbringing and interests, but was different in their mannerisms. Both shared very privileged upbringings, which provided the initial resources to explore science and develop interests in such fields. These interests were very strong in both of their lives, and it led to their bond as scientists who worked passionately in the same field. Their mannerisms were described to be very different, as Eliava was said to be smooth, with pomaded hair and a way with women whereas d’Herelle was said to be particular and very serious. Eventually, the Eliava’s met their demise at the hands of the Russian regime, as Eliava fell on the wrong side of a Russian political leader, which led to his imprisonment and execution.

Discuss the influence war and politics had on the spread of phage therapy.

War had a very important influence on the spread of phage therapy. Due to the magnitude of the diseases that occurred, an effective and sustainable solution was needed to cure the troops of the disorders that they encountered. This led to the birth of phage therapy, and also the development as the technologies were refined as they were put into practice. Politics had an arguably more influential effect on the spread of phage therapy. Joseph Stalin felt that the Russians were far behind the rest of the developed nations in terms of science and technology – he estimated that they had fallen behind between fifty and one hundred years, and if they were not to make up that difference in the next ten years, they would be rather permanently at a disadvantage. This led to Stalin looking favorably upon the establishment of a phage institute in Georgia, which was established and run by Georgi Eliava. As resources were funneled into this field, more and more discoveries were made that enhanced the understanding of bacteriophages and furthered them as a possible treatment.

What are some of the reasons that the spread of phage therapy failed?

Two reasons why the spread of phage therapy ultimately failed were the development of other technologies and a low level of comprehension. As the technology spread to the Western world, other technologies would be developed each time a swell of interest in phage therapy would occur. The development of sulfa drugs and penicillins both were considered to be more important and effective methods to treat bacterial infection despite evidence that both, especially penicillins, could result in antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. While even phages share this problem (CRISPR-Cas9 bacterial defense system), they are more adaptable and present a lower risk due to their specificity. Despite this, the western world prioritized alternative methods of treating bacterial infections. Therefore, resources were not placed into phage research, which stunted its development. Alternatively, a lack of understanding of bacteriophages resulted in a halt of their spread. A series of unfavorable reviews from JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association), described phages as enzymes and proteins, which clearly is not the case. It also suggested that they had limited effectiveness in treating conditions. Moreover, studies about phages were conducted rather haphazardly, as scientists eager to save each patient lacked control groups in their study, which compromised the results that displayed encouraging feedback. Therefore, poor levels of understanding along with the development of other technologies and interests led to the deterioration of the spread of phage therapy.

How did the physicists Delbruck and Luria end up as part of the Phage Group? What contributions did they make to phage biology?  Why did phage biology die out in the 70’s?

Delbruck joined the Phage Group in somewhat of a roundabout way. As a physicist, he attended a presentation where it was suggested that life was so complex that learning all of the intricacies would be nearly impossible. This challenge was interesting to him, and the idea that there may be a few laws that could govern all life motivated him to find a way to study biology. This led him to the radiation experiment on fruit fly genes, which mutated them and allowed Delbruck and the group studying the flies to conclude that genes are the basic unit of life – a belief held to this day. The knowledge of this experiment interested Luria, and he also became interested in biology. As Delbruck and Luria were looking for a new organism to examine the genome of, they turned to phages and ended up joining the Phage Group. Through this group and a series of experiments featuring Hershey (Hershey and Chase experiment), they studied the mechanism of bacteriophages and learned much more about their structure. However, after they had learned so much about phages, their interest was whittled down to seven specific types of bacteriophage, and then later it was changed to the examination of other organisms. Therefore, the examination of bacteriophages fell away from the forefront of science, and phage biology began to die out in the 70s.

Other Note:

The culture of the Phage Group sounded very fun and exciting. It sounded like the ideal summer camp – working hard to learn science during the day and enjoying swimming and play reenactments later at night! It would be fun to have a summer opportunity like this at Baylor, with a phage study group over the summer with a cohort similar to the one selected for BEARS in the SEA.