March
17
The Forgotten Cure 2
- Having a state health system in the USSR during the 1940’s -1950’s caused the USSR physicians and researchers to research other alternatives of treatments rather than rely on antibiotics. During World War II, through Western funding and support, the USSR was able to rely on the United States and Great Britain for aid in advancements in antibiotics. However, with the end of World War II, the USSR was left alone with little resources to continue antibiotic research. Alternative medicine has always been an essential part of treatment in the USSR, so phage therapy was able to take root more easily in that culture than in others. In a culture where natural substances were trusted, phage therapy was readily accepted and used to treat infectious diseases.
- The Hirszfeld Institute in Wroclaw and Eliava Institute in Tbilisis were two medical institutes established near/during the 2nd World War. However, only the Hirszfeld Institute found lasting support and success. I believe this is mostly credited to the strict emphasis placed on bacteriophage research and immunology at the institution. Such an example is in 1952, when Hirszfeld petitioned to devote an institution only to immunology within the Medical School’s Department of Microbiology, as well as the continued emphasis and research in phage typing throughout the years of 1950-1960. I also believe that the Hirszfeld Institute was able to flourish because of their joining of the EU in 2005, which connected them to other Western countries. The Eliava Institute was prosperous for a while, but lost most of it’s market after the dissociation of the USSR.
- Merril and his team took blood samples from animals and isolated the phages present and re-injected them into the mice. This process was repeated multiple times to isolate lambda phages that were able to remain in the bloodstream for as long as 18 hours (Named Argo1 and Argo2). These phages, along with wild-type phages were used to treat mice injected with lethal doses of bacteria. Argo1 and Argo2 phage-treated mice had a milder illness before recuperating than those treated with the wild-type phage, showing results that supported Merril’s hypothesis.
- Phage Therapy has immense potential in Western Medicine but in may cases, are stopped by government regulations and approvals that can only be given through studies which yield safe results. Particularly in the United States, the FDA has since recently allowed the establishment of the first phage therapy center at University of California, San Diego; however, phage companies yet have to conduct large studies with control groups to ensure credible results for approval. Companies, such as GangaGen, have devoted their resources and research towards discovering and developing ectolysins (high-specific therapeutic proteins) to target meaningful types of bacteria. Although first founded in India in 2000, it was incorporated into the US in 2001. Experiments run by phage companies should show the effectiveness of phage in treating infections, but also should emphasize the safety of the phages. One large misconception of phage therapy may be the notion perceived when individuals are told that scientists are using viruses to infect bacteria. The use of terms such as viruses may immediately be a red flag to patients or individuals. This misconception needs to be addressed and changed so we are more accepting of discoveries which are different from what we are used to.
Justin,
I agree that the titles of components being used could be alarming to the population, as it can seem counterintuitive to use something with a negative connotation to treat something else with a negative connotation. This could illustrate a need for a more public promotion/advertisement of phage therapy that fully informs the public about the potential benefits and destigmatizes the title “virus” surrounding a potential treatment. I also agree with your point about the experiments emphasizing safety and efficiency, as they would quickly help the public to understand the potential of the treatments available. However, it would be important to develop these studies carefully and consider all angles to avoid putting out information that is not completely accurate or portrays the treatment in inaccurate ways.
Hey Justin!
Firstly, I wanted to say that I enjoyed reading what you had to say about the different topics asked in the assignment. I think the information you gave regarding the startup companies in paragraph 4 was the best, especially the bit at the end regarding peoples’ aversions to phage therapy. I definitely agree that is something that has to be addressed if we want to see phage therapy increase in use around the globe.
Hey Justin, great read on your thoughts from chapters 5-8 of Forgotten Cure. Number 4 hit with me and my discussion. I liked a lot of things but mostly the number 4. I also liked how you started by talking about the forgotten cure and how the west is not really using phage therapy and how later you did talk about later in your discussion FDA and how it could the forgotten cure would be unforgotten in a way. Overall, Great discussion!