Phage therapy: Unexpected drawbacks to reach hospitals

The use of phages to kill pathogenic bacteria is an old practice to cure infectious diseases. The current antibiotic crisis has boosted phage therapy research, but its application in hospitals is still very limited. Here, we analyze the problems that need to be solved to go forward with this renewed...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Álvarez, Andrea, Fernández Llamas, Lucía, Iglesias, Beatriz, Rodríguez-Carrio, Javier, García Suárez, María Pilar
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/223114
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/223114
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Antibiotic resistance
Hospitals
Infectious diseases
New antibiotics
Phage therapy
Descripción
Sumario:The use of phages to kill pathogenic bacteria is an old practice to cure infectious diseases. The current antibiotic crisis has boosted phage therapy research, but its application in hospitals is still very limited. Here, we analyze the problems that need to be solved to go forward with this renewed therapy, hoping that it can be useful for patients suffering from an incurable infection. We would like to emphasize that phage therapy is right now at a crossroads. This may be similar to what happened a century ago with the arrival of antibiotics, but now we do not have such a good alternative. Therefore, let us not waste this opportunity, even if a radical change in our health strategy is necessary.