This semi-icky sounding story, Agency Approves First Use of Viruses as a Food Additive, from the New York Times, may not have anything directly to do with MRSA, but it has everything to do with bacteriophages, something which has been touted as the cure to antibiotic resistant bacteria. The gist of the story, which I am sure you will be hearing a lot about in other venues, is that the FDA has approved the use of viruses, called bacteriophages, that target and kill only specific bacteria, in this food case, the bacteria is Listeria.
Bacteriophages are thought by many people to be the answer also to our MRSA problem, as they can kill MRSA. Phage Therapy is currently unavailable in the United States, but it is available in Mexico and other places around the world and is worth checking in to if you are not winning your battle against MRSA. You can learn more about Phage Therapy and MRSA here.
Alternative therapy, Awareness, Infection Prevention, MRSA, Wellness .gif)
5 responses so far ↓
RJS // Aug 21, 2006 at 8:42 am
Weird, I was thinking about this on my drive home from the city yesterday, and I was wondering if there were any plans to use phages to combat bacteria in the US. I was thinking specifically of MRSA, but any use of phage therapy is interesting.
It was, of course, more common before the discovery of penicillin, especially in Russia.
Christina // Aug 21, 2006 at 8:46 am
There surely are a lot of people that are interested in it - I hope they will work on it here, it sounds like a potentially good answer. Better than toxic antibiotics that are just making the problem worse, anyway.
Good to see you RJS, thanks for taking the time to comment!
Bacteriophages at your local supermarket :: OnThePharm // Aug 21, 2006 at 9:55 am
[…] My first post on bacteriophages was all a build-up to this piece of news that I found while perusing MRSA Notes. A mix of bacteria-killing viruses may be sprayed on cold cuts, wieners and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials ruled Friday. […]
MRSA Notes » Bacteriophage Buzz Increasing // Jan 31, 2007 at 10:57 pm
[…] I have mentioned bacteriophages and phage therapy a number of different times over the time I have been writing about MRSA, but it seems to be finding its way into my life more than normal lately, via questions from MRSA patients and caregivers and articles of late. I hope this slight increase in buzz might mean that there might be some hope of phage therapy coming to the US. Phages are in our deli’s now - maybe they will be coming to a clinic near you next - so far we have to go out of the US to find it. […]
MRSA Notes » Phage Therapy Video from CBS5 in San Fransisco // Feb 7, 2007 at 7:37 am
[…] If you are left wanting more, here is the raw video of the interview with Phage International’s David Hodges. Things are changing in North America with the recent use of phages in our deli meats - maybe, just maybe, it is the start of the FDA considering bringing back the use of phages to treat antibiotic resistant infections in our bodies. This is paragraph 32 of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki, which are ethical principals for medical research and care, and something that has been shoved under the rug forgotten in North America with the advent of big pharma: […]
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