<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <shempmcgurk@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Eat Me
> > The Soviet method for attacking infection that we can learn from.
> > By Daria Vaisman
> > Posted Tuesday, May 30, 2006, at 12:41 PM ET
> +++ Hi Shemp, Interesting article-
> Did you ever look into grapefruit seed extract or, citruscidal
(sp)?
No.
The only additive I take is Stinging Nettle for allergies, psyllium
for fiber, and apple cider vinegar for stomach.
> This stuff is said to eliminate known harmfull bacteria with
no
> side effects.
> A health food store item- around twelve dollars for a month
> supply. N.
>
>
> >
> >
> > Illustration of a bacteriophage
> >
> > In the 1920s and '30s, with diseases like dysentery and cholera
> > running rampant, the discovery of bacteriophages was hailed as a
> > breakthrough. Bacteriophages are viruses found virtually
everywhere
> > from soil to seawater to your intestinesthat kill specific,
> > infection-causing bacteria. In the United States, the drug
company
> > Eli Lilly marketed phages for abscesses and respiratory
infections.
> > (Sinclair Lewis' Pulitzer-winning Arrowsmith is about a doctor
who
> > uses phages to prevent a diphtheria epidemic.) But by the 1940s,
> > American scientists stopped working with phages for treatment
> > because they no longer had reason to. Penicillin, discovered by
the
> > Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming in 1928, had become
widely
> > available thanks to synthetic production and zapped infections
> > without the expertise needed for finicky phages.
> >
> > But now the equation has changed. Many kinds of bacteria have
become
> > antibiotic-resistantprompting a few Western scientists, and
> > patients, to travel to former Soviet Georgia to give
bacteriophages
> > for treatment a try. Phages have been used in the former Soviet
> > Union for decades because scientists there had less access to
> > antibiotics than their American and European counterparts did.
> > Phages were a cheap alternative, and in Soviet clinical trials,
they
> > repeatedly stopped infections. Now in a bid for medical
tourists,
> > Georgia has opened a center in its capital, Tbilisi, which
offers
> > outpatient phage treatment to foreigners. In connection with the
> > Eliava phage research institute, which Stalin helped set up in
> > Tbilisi in 1923, the treatment center offers personalized cures
for
> > a host of infections the United States says it can no longer do
> > anything about.
> >
> > In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control, along with other
federal
> > agencies, warned that the world might soon return to a "pre-
> > antibiotic era." Two million people each year now get hospital-
borne
> > bacterial infections, 1.4 million of them resistant to
antibiotics
> > and 90,000 of them lethal. One example is sepsis, the infection
that
> > killed Joan Didion's daughter, as Didion relates in The Year of
> > Magical Thinking. New antibiotics are being discovered. But it
takes
> > 10 years and at least $800 million to bring an antibiotic to
market,
> > according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The big
> > advantage that phages offer over antibiotics is that bacterial
> > resistance is less of a problem. Unlike antibiotics, new phage
> > batches can quickly be whipped up to take the place of phages to
> > which bacteria become resistant.
> >
> >
> > The word phage comes from the Greek "to eat." A phage contains
> > genetic material that gets injected into a virus's host.
> > Whereas "bad" viruses infect healthy cells, phages target
specific
> > bacteria that then explode. At Eliava, phages are produced as a
> > liquid that can be drunk or injected intravenously, as pills, or
as
> > phage-containing patches for wounds. Though few published
articles
> > in Western journals report positive clinical trialsmost of the
> > recent long-term research on phages comes out of the Soviet
Union
> > some Western scientists say that phages are safe and that they
> > work. "There is no evidence that phage is harmful in any way,"
says
> > Nick Mann, a biology professor at the University of Warwick in
> > England and co-director of phage R&D company Novolytics.
> >
> > So, why do American patients need to go to all the way to
Georgia
> > for treatment? For starters, in their natural state phages are
hard
> > to patent, the route by which drug companies lock up future
profits.
> > The first company to spend millions of dollars to prove that a
> > particular phage is safe could allow its competitors to
capitalize
> > on the results. As important is the difficulty of regulation.
There
> > are two ways that phages are currently used in the former Soviet
> > Union, and both pose problems from the point of view of the Food
and
> > Drug Administration. At the Tbilisi phage center, phages are
> > personalized: You send your bacterial sample to the lab, and
it's
> > either matched up with an existing phage or a phage is cultured
just
> > for you. In the United States, by contrast, drugs are mass
produced,
> > which makes it easier for the FDA to regulate them.
> >
> > Phages are also sold over-the-counter in Georgia. People take
the
> > popular mixture piobacteriophage, for example, to fight off
common
> > infections including staph and strep. These phage mixtures are
> > updated regularly so they can attack newly emerging bacterial
> > strains. In the United States, the FDA would want the phages in
each
> > new concoction to be gene sequenced, because regulations require
> > every component of a drug to be identified. To do so would
entail
> > prohibitively expensive and lengthy clinical trials.
> >
> > In the early years of phage research in the United States, says
> > former National Institutes of Health scientist Carl Merril,
> > bacteriophages allegedly killed more people than they cured.
Phages
> > are culled from dirty, wet placesthe first was found in the
Ganges
> > Rivera recipe for infection unless you know what you're doing.
And
> > some kinds of phagescalled lysogenic phagesare potentially
> > dangerous, because they sometimes carry genes that cause
bacteria to
> > release toxins. So, there is reason for caution.
> >
> > Despite the caveats, a number of phage biotechnology firms have
> > recently opened up in the United States and also in countries
like
> > Canada and Israel. Phage biologists point out we know much more
> > about phage biology now than when the viruses were first
discovered.
> > Methods of using phages for treatment, from distillation to
> > identification, have improved significantly since then.
Clinicians
> > worldwide also report that patients using phages have had good
> > recovery rates and minor or fleeting side effects. Evergreen
State
> > College professor Elizabeth Kutter, who collaborates closely
with
> > Eliava researchers in Georgia and heads an international phage
> > conference each year, is working with others to find ways to
> > commercialize phages that could sidestep some of the problems
with
> > patenting and regulation. Flu vaccine offers one instructive
> > possibility. Like over-the-counter phages, the vaccine is
updated
> > regularly with the most recent strain of flu viruswithout
requiring
> > FDA approval each time.
> >
> > There are already multiple uses for phages without FDA approval.
A
> > promising area is American agriculture and livestock, which is
> > regulated by the less stringent United States Department of
> > Agriculture. Domestic scientists are looking at ways in which
phages
> > could kill bacteria before they cause infection (rather than
fight
> > an infection after it has begun). Alexander Sulakvelidze, an
> > assistant medical professor at the University of Maryland and a
co-
> > founder of the phage R&D company Intralytix, awaits federal
approval
> > for a phage-based wash for meat and produce that protects
against
> > food poisoning. Vincent Fischetti, a professor at the
Rockefeller
> > Institute, is designing a phage-based enzyme solution that can
be
> > sprayed into the noses and mouths of hospital and nursing-home
> > patients. Fischetti and researchers in Tbilisi are also
> > experimenting with using phages to detect anthrax and cholera in
the
> > case of a terrorist attack.
> >
> > Using phages to treat infections at home, on the other hand, for
the
> > moment seems unlikely. One company recently tried to open a
phage
> > center in Tijuana but was deterred by the Mexican government.
Phages
> > might be offered someday at clinics on Native American
reservations,
> > as a casinolike quirk of legislative autonomy. But for now, U.S.
> > patients at a loss for options may decide that Tbilisi is close
> > enough.
> >
> >
> > Daria Vaisman is a writer based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
> >
> > Image of bacteriophage © Varie/Alt/Corbis.
> >
>
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