Viruses can 're-feed' bacteria

A new virus has been found to be able to eat bacteria, potentially becoming a powerful weapon in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The bacteriophage can become a new weapon in the fight against harmful bacteria.Photo: marginata.com.

Bacteria always know how to resist the effects of antibiotics. They can expel antibiotics from the body or secrete enzymes to kill antibiotics. Drug resistance prevents treatment for common diseases (such as pneumonia, salmonella, tuberculosis), causing waste of money and helping the disease to go on.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a bacterium that causes ear infections, is difficult to destroy because it encapsulates the body in biological membranes (a layer of sugars, proteins). This membrane increases its resistance to 1,000 times.

Now, scientists at the University of London (UK) have found a group of viruses capable of killing bacteria. It is a bacteriophage that eats bacteria that cause ear infections by disrupting biological membranes and destroying cells, but does not harm beneficial bacteria in the human body.

Andrew Wright, an ear specialist at the University of London, and colleagues tested the effects of Bacteriophage on 24 people with severe ear infections. Half of the patients took Biophage-PA (antibiotic containing Bacteriophage virus) and the rest used placebo.

After a few days, the level of pain, pus and inflammation in both groups decreased, but the rate of progression in the antibiotic group was twice that of the other group. The number of bacteria causing ear infections in the antibiotic group decreased significantly, while the number of bacteria in the other group was almost unchanged. After 6 weeks, 3 patients took antibiotics.

'This test is an important step in the fight against bacteria, but there are still many challenges ahead of us. Someday, it is likely that the ear-causing bacteria will find a way to fight Biophage-PA antibiotics, said Lucinda Hall, a microbiologist at London Medical University.