Articles

Salt In My Soul: Poignant Film Calls Attention To The Need For Phages For Antibiotic Resistance
Mallory Smith was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was only 3-years old. Despite daily life interrupted by intensive treatments and more than 70 hospitalizations, she went on to become an excellent athlete and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford, as well as an environmental journalist.

Rediscovering phages: ‘We finally have the tools to harness them’
Infectious Disease News | Antibiotic-resistant infections, which have been on the rise for years, were the cause of more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to estimates published this year in The Lancet.In the United States alone, the CDC reported that more than 2.8 million infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens annually, resulting in at least 35,000 deaths.

100-Year-Old Treatment Could Help Save Us from Superbugs

How A 100-Year-Old Treatment Could Help Save Us From Superbugs : Short Wave
In 2015, Steffanie Strathdee’s husband nearly died from a superbug, an antibiotic resistant bacteria he contracted in Egypt. Desperate to save him, she reached out to the scientific community for help. What she got back? A 100-year-old treatment that’s considered experimental in the U.S.

NIH Awards Grants for Phage Therapy Research

NIH awards $2.5M for phage therapy research
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded $2.5 million in grants to 12 institutions to study using bacteriophage therapy to combat antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that target and consume bacteria.

Unlocking the Potential of Phage Therapy

Scientists, biotechs look to unlock the potential of phage therapy
“We’ve really started to see the infectious disease community embrace the idea of phage therapy.”

Scientist Defeats Bacteria to Save Husband’s Life

Meet the scientist who defeated ‘the world’s worst bacteria’ to save her husband’s life
Sitting on the top tier of a cruise ship in Egypt, Professor Steffanie Strathdee and her husband were enjoying their meal and looking forward to sightseeing on their final day. It had been a dream holiday for Steffanie’s husband, Tom, to explore Egypt and the pair of researchers had finally made it over in 2015.

Film Highlights the Need for Phages for Antibiotic Resistance

Salt In My Soul: Poignant Film Calls Attention To The Need For Phages For Antibiotic Resistance
Mallory Smith was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was only 3-years old. Despite daily life interrupted by intensive treatments and more than 70 hospitalizations, she went on to become an excellent athlete and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford, as well as an environmental journalist.

Can Phage Help Where Antibiotics have Failed?

Can Phages Help Where Antibiotics Have Failed?
A new film called Salt in My Soul was recently released, with one of the expressed goals being to raise funds for phage research and antibiotic resistance. Mallory Smith The film shares the story of Mallory Smith, a young woman, now deceased, who suffered from cystic fibrosis.

Viruses can save lives

Science’s cutting-edge: seven ideas you should know about in 2021
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that making predictions in January is a bad idea. As such, you won’t find any brash proclamations about the scientific world in 2021 here. Instead, here’s our selection of the most interesting research to keep an eye out for in the year to come.

Why is Germany’s Coronavirus Death Rate so Low?

Why is Germany’s coronavirus death rate so low? A strong healthcare system, mass testing and luck
As almost every country in the world fights the new coronavirus, Germany so far appears to have fared better than others-not least some of its hard-hit European neighbors. But is the situation too good to be true, and if not, what can other countries learn from Germany’s handling of the pandemic so far?

Will America Let COVID-19 Become the Next HIV

Will America Let COVID-19 Become The Next HIV?
COVID-19 is settling into the cracks of American inequality. Over the last two months, coronavirus cases have surged in the most marginalized neighborhoods of the poorest states. Latinx people account for 18% of the population but 33% of infections. Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to die and three times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.

Third Wave of COVID-19 is Here

The third wave of COVID-19 is here, and it’s getting worse
Whether another wave of coronavirus has hit depends on where exactly you live, but cases are clearly surging across the United States and Europe.

Antimicrobial restistance could get worse during coronavirus pandemic

Antimicrobial resistance could get worse during the coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is currently coinciding with the flu season and several states and areas of the world are experiencing upticks in new cases. While hospitals have some experience with COVID to go on, some experts are concerned that how doctors are administering antibiotics during the COVID-19 crisis could potentially make the fight against antimicrobial resistance harder.

The Virtuous Side of Viruses

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-virtuous-side-of-viruses/

Clinical News Research Two Part Series: Phage Therapy: From Compassionate Use To Clinical Trials

Phage Therapy Making A Big Comeback
February 10, 2020 | A resurgence of interest in phages over the past few years-in basic and translational research, as well as animal agriculture and aquaculture-is closely tied to the global rise in antimicrobial resistance, rendering once-standard treatments ineffective. In the newly declared “post-antibiotic era,” more than 35,000 people in the U.S.

Phage Therapy: From Compassionate Use To Clinical Trials
February 11, 2020 | At least three different types of phage products currently exist, and all of them are being explored as potential therapeutic remedies for people with drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Phage therapy case listed as one of BBC’s Medical Breakthroughs of 2019

‘Man on the Moon’ moment – the year’s big breakthroughs
It has been a remarkable year of promise in medical science – from inventing ways of treating the untreatable to reversing paralysis and keeping the brain alive after death. “It was like [being the] first man on the Moon,” said 30-year-old Thibault.

Who’s up for a little gut gardening?
A new study from researchers at San Diego State University suggests that ancient viruses called biophages may be just the set of garden tools needed to cultivate a healthy microbiome. One need look no further than the nation’s multi-billion-dollar probiotics industry to understand that many people are entranced by the notion of influencing the complex community of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the human gut.

A fitting memorial: Superbug treatment named for the patient who inspired its discovery
E ven for the most elite of bacteria-killers, these superbugs were a challenge. They’d delayed Mallory Smith from getting a lung transplant, and when she’d finally had the surgery, the bacteria quickly migrated into her new lungs. They shrugged off cocktail after cocktail of antibiotics.

Phage Crusade
Also in this issue Jeff Summerhayes knows the drill. The bleak hospital corridors, the calls on the intercom, the IV tubes in his arms dangling from their holders like chandeliers-all have been familiar since Summerhayes’s childhood. But the bug was still in him and all the antibiotics had failed.

As antibiotic resistance threatens millions of lives, is phage therapy the best alternative?
It’s a common myth that only those who use antibiotics regularly, or the sick, elderly and infirm, are at risk of developing antibiotic resistance. The unhappy fact is that anyone can get an infection that’s resistant to the drugs, no matter how healthy and fit they are. I should know.

How a Winnipeg entrepreneur is using Mother Nature’s deadly weapon to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs
One to watch: Steven Theriault’s research on bacteriophages has put him at the cutting edge of a potential bio-medical revolution Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Science & Technology!
Official winner of this year’s Goodreads Choice Award for Science & Technology, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is also the unofficial winner of this year’s Most Alarming Book Title award. Author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers all those questions that we’re generally afraid to ask about death, decay, decomposition, and other depressing developments.

“Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug” by Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson, is this year’s selection for the KUMC One Book Program.

A long forgotten Canadian discovery used to treat superbugs
A cystic fibrosis patient infected with a dangerous superbug has become one of the first Canadians to try phage therapy — inhaling viruses found in sewage to kill the bacteria in her lungs. The experimental treatment, discovered in Canada over a century ago, may become a new weapon in the war against drug resistant bacteria.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-18/viral-smart-bombs-are-becoming-weapons-against-superbugs

When my husband almost died from antibiotic resistance, I saved his life
The global superbug crisis isn’t on everyone’s radar like climate change is, but my family is trying to change that. I am an infectious disease epidemiologist, yet my experience with antimicrobial resistance was intensely personal.

How Do We Stop The Superbugs? – Folks
In 2015, Steffanie Strathdee and her husband Tom Patterson were vacationing in Egypt when Tom suddenly became very sick. It seemed to be just a stomach bug, but no medicine helped; it only worsened. Steffanie took Tom to an Egyptian clinic. When nothing could be done there, he was medevaced to Germany, where his health further deteriorated.

‘My husband squeezed my hand to say he wanted to live, then I found a way to save him’
When Tom Patterson started vomiting during an Egyptian holiday he thought he had food poisoning. He was wrong. In fact he was infected with an antibiotic-resistant superbug and only his wife’s determination and a revolutionary new treatment would save him. “Has anyone told Steff her husband is going to die?”

Opinion | Phage therapy could arm the world against superbugs
Antibiotic cocktails that are used to treat superbugs do exist. They are used sparingly and only as a last resort. The irony here is that whether the patient lives or dies, he or she will not end up being a repeat user.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/phage-therapy-could-beat-drug-resistant-illnesses/

http://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/ancient-therapy-answer-multi-drug-resistance/

Can we kill superbugs before they kill us?
More than 10 million people a year could die from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, warns a United Nations report. Yet scientists hope that recent advances – from reviving ancient cures to enlisting bacteria-slaying viruses – could prevent that dire prediction. By the time Tom Patterson, PhD, was medically evacuated from Egypt to Germany after falling ill on vacation, his condition was rapidly deteriorating.

THE OCTAVIAN REPORT: GOING VIRAL
https://octavianreport.com/article/how-phages-can-save-world-superbugs/

These superbug-fighting viruses are making a comeback
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria – superbugs – are medical monsters of our own design. Honed by years of antibiotic misuse and overuse, superbugs demand new weapons to treat them. Bacteria-hunting viruses called phages have emerged as potentially potent tools in this fight, successfully sicced on vicious infections in a psychologist who caught a superbug on vacation and a London cystic fibrosis patient.

Steffanie Strathdee: ‘Phages have evolved to become perfect predators of bacteria’
nfectious disease epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee’s husband survived a deadly antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection thanks to her suggestion of using an unconventional cure popular in the former Soviet Union: fighting the bug with a virus.

Cystic Fibrosis Patients Turn to Experimental Phage Therapy (Published 2019)
Phages have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but there is growing interest in the treatment for cystic fibrosis. Mallory Smith was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system, at age 3.

Genetically Modified Viruses Help Save A Patient With A ‘Superbug’ Infection
For the first time, scientists have used genetically modified viruses to treat a patient fighting an antibiotic-resistant infection. Isabelle Carnell-Holdaway, 17, began the experimental treatment after doctors lost all hope. She was struggling with a life-threateninginfection after a lung transplant. With the new treatment, she has not been completely cured.

Scientist threw ‘Hail Mary pass’ to defeat Husband’s superbug
While vacationing in Egypt during the winter of 2015, an almost fatal event occurred to local resident and University of California San Diego professor Thomas Patterson. “Tom’s symptoms resembled food poisoning at first, but he just kept getting sicker,” said his wife, Steffanie Strathdee, an associate dean of global health and infectious disease epidemiologist at UC San Diego.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?458717-1/the-perfect-predator

A patient’s legacy: Researchers work to make phage therapy less of a long shot
T he researcher couldn’t get Mallory Smith’s story out of her mind. Smith was a 25-year-old cystic fibrosis patient, and she was near death at a Pittsburgh hospital, her lungs overwhelmed by bacteria. All antibiotics had failed. As a last resort, her father suggested an experimental treatment known as phage therapy.

My husband was dying with a superbug. So I hunted down an experimental treatment to save him
In late 2015, epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, Tom Patterson, were in Egypt when Patterson came down with a bug. In time, it was diagnosed as a deadly, antibiotic-resistant superbug. As he lay in a California hospital bed, all options seemed to be exhausted.

How this couple used a bacteria-fighting virus to thwart a deadly superbug | CBC Radio
Read Story Transcript Steffanie Strathdee and her husband Tom Patterson were on the trip of a lifetime to Egypt in 2015 when Patterson fell ill from powerful bacteria known as Acinetobacter baumannii. “I was in and out of a coma. I was hallucinating,” Patterson told The Current’s Anna Maria Tremonti.

Why Canada should revive a forgotten cure to combat the global superbug crisis
Steffanie Strathdee is an infectious-disease epidemiologist, and associate dean of global health sciences and professor at the University of California, San Diego, school of medicine. She also directs the new UC San Diego Center for Innovative Phage Application and Therapeutics and is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins and Simon Fraser Universities.

Superbug Slayer Dr. Steffanie Strathdee: ‘How I Saved My Husband’s Life – with Sewage’
For three months, she’d watched helplessly as he fought a losing battle for his life – much of it in a coma and connected to a ventilator – while teams of specialists tried unsuccessfully to kill the antibiotic-resistant bacteria devouring his body.

This Viral Therapy Could Help Us Survive the Superbug Era
WIRED: So how did you convince Tom’s doctors that this approach was worth trying, given its tumultuous history? SS: You know, we’ve become risk-averse in our approach to medicine, especially in the US, because of litigation-the whole worry that if we try this experimental treatment and the patient dies, they’ll sue us.

UCSD researchers get OK from FDA for first trial of IV phage therapy
The FDA has given clearance for the first clinical trial in the United States to test an IV-administered bacteriophage-based therapy to kill drug-resistant bacteria.The agency accepted an investigational new drug application for the planned trial from researchers at the University of California, San Diego, according to a news release.

From Superbug To Super Deal: How One Couple Cured the Incurable And Lived to Write the Book
The Book Doctors: You have one of the single most compelling personal stories we’ve ever heard. Give us the trajectory from this incredible period in your lives to the moment where you decided to write a book about it.

Her Husband Was Dying From A Superbug. She Turned To Sewer Viruses Collected By The Navy.
Two days after walking through the pyramids, Tom Patterson got very sick. The psychiatry professor was in Egypt with his wife on one of their many adventurous vacations away from life in California. One minute he was fine, hamming it up in a touristy horse-and-buggy ride across the desert.

Sewage Saved This Man’s Life. Someday It Could Save Yours.
When Thomas Patterson woke up from a two-month coma in March 2016, he learned two things he couldn’t believe: Donald Trump was soon to become the Republican nominee for president, and his wife, Steffanie Strathdee, had saved him from dying of an antibiotic-resistant superbug by injecting him with viruses harvested from sewage.

This man should have died, but unusual infusions saved his life
Tom Patterson should have died during those weeks in March 2016 when he lay comatose, a lethal strain of multi-drug-resistant bacteria raging through his body. Antibiotics proved useless, and his doctors were grim. They were losing him. He should have died, but he didn’t.

This Last-Resort Medical Treatment Offers Hope in the Fight Against Superbugs
Physicians are turning to phage therapy as a treatment, which is seen as one of the more promising frontiers in the war on superbugs.

He was dying. Antibiotics weren’t working. Then doctors tried a forgotten treatment.
Steffanie Strathdee hunched over her laptop, fretting. She barely noticed the kittens asleep next to her or the serene Buddha figure across the living room, anchored next to the glass doors that looked toward the gleaming Pacific.

How the Navy brought a once-derided scientist out of retirement – and into the virus-selling business
As the Navy tapped into its virus library to treat a man on the brink of death with phage therapy, little did it know it was about to jump-start a virus-selling family business – with a former race-car driver as CEO.