The Forgotten Cure Second Response
1.
As a result of the USSR controlling the health system, doctors and patients were forced to seek alternative forms of treatment rather than antibiotics due to Russia spending its money on weapons for the Cold War rather than medicine and the health system. Since Russia was unable to afford the production and supply of antibiotics like the west they encouraged natural remedies/alternative medicine, including such things as phages. Additionally, the government branded antibiotics as foreign and linked to the Western enemy through the use of propaganda, increasing the suspicion of them amongst the population. Ultimately, the state health system in Russia resulted in a far greater focus on treating infectious diseases with natural remedies/medicine compared to Western linked and relatively expensive antibiotics.
2.
Even though both centers developed in the USSR under oppressive and scientifically strangling ideologies like Lysenkoism the Hirszfeld Institute was able to endure and flourish, while the Eliava Institute saw its glory days come and go. I ultimately believe the differences in outcome between the Phage Therapy Center (Hirszfeld Institute) and the Eliava Institute results from the location of both. Since the Phage Therapy Center (PTC) is in Poland, they are a part of the EU and thus much more closely tied to the west. The Eliava Institute, however, is in Georgia, considered by many in the west to be backwater former Soviet state, additionally, they are lacking in the economic development that countries like Poland are experiencing. This results in them having less access to funding due to more wariness on the part of investors, especially those from the west. However, the PTC has experienced far more support from the west due to it actually being in the west and under the western style of control and regulation scientifically. In the end, the PTC has been able to receive adequate external support in comparison to the Eliava Institute where its location in Georgia has even driven away external support despite its history and successes.
3.
Merril injected lambda phage into mice and after seven hours took blood samples and isolated the phage that survived. They proceeded to grown and propagate that phage and repeat this serial passage method for a total of eight times. By the end of the serial passages, they had phages that were isolated were able to last up to 18 hours in the blood. These phages where then able to be injected into mice infected with E. Coli and survive the liver and spleen, allowing them to kill the bacteria. The figures of the paper show that the mice treated with Argo1 and Argo2 had dramatic symptom reduction over the course of several hours as compared to the wild type lambda phage.
4.
Phage therapy has great potential in modern Western medicine, especially in the face of increasing reliance on and subsequent bacterial resistance to antibiotics. But in order for it to be widely accepted FDA approved studies need to be conducted and the results published in order to begin swaying the opinions of Western medicine regarding phage therapy. Specifically, they need to be double-blind studies in order for there to be no chance for bias. Companies like GangaGen, for instance, have made an active effort to bring phage therapy into the mainstream of modern medicine, in an effort to do so they began collecting a library of phages to work with. They soon attracted investors who have and continue to provide the necessary resources to develop the company and bring phage therapy to prominence in Western medicine. According to their website, they are currently in the midst of conducting clinical trials and preclinical trials for a variety of phage-based drugs in an effort to have them approved by the FDA.
Hello Nathan!
It is interesting to note how the geographical location of a country influences the political affiliations that are viewed upon by other countries. This especially caused certain countries, such as Georgia, to delay advancements and provision of resource provided by western countries. When it was under the national state health system of Russian post Allie-removal and especially after the complete dissolution of the USSR’s legislative body, the institution was unable sustain a higher standard that was set by the resource abundant west. It is correct in saying that during the arms race, countries such as Georgia–with a strong historical tie to the Soviets–were not introduce to novel medical practices and application developed by non-communist countries. However, the book mentions that there have been recent modifications within the institution, newer investments, and the formation on an operating international outpatient clinic. Perhaps now, at least as of 2006, the focus is on developing phage research and the creation of programs/opportunities directed towards questions concerning its application–without being too influenced by the great political factor or depending their success on outside forces.