Do they offer a way out of the antibiotics crisis?

Every year, around 1.3 million people die because of antibiotic resistance. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is one of the biggest threats to global health.

There are various reasons for the growing number of antibiotic resistances: Unspecific or incorrect use of antibiotics causes bacteria to mutate into multi-resistant germs.

In addition, the excessive use of antibiotics in animal husbandry has alarming consequences for humans: Antibiotics, which were considered one of medicine's greatest achievements against infections, are increasingly losing their effectiveness. Increasingly, science is relying on the potential of bacteria-eating viruses, or bacteriophages, to combat bacteria.

Researchers from the US, Georgia, Kenya and Uganda are developing suitable phage therapies and establishing international collaborations. And they’re finding what they’re looking for in bacteria-contaminated wastewater.

Phage samples from the US and African countries will help to build up a biobank and produce specific phage cocktails. Phage therapy has not yet been approved in Germany due to a lack of clinical studies.

However, in some countries, such as Georgia and Slovakia, bacteriophages are being used successfully to treat patients with antibiotic resistances.
 

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