| Bacteriophages - Genesis.Like most discoveries, it | | | | immediately after their "show" trial.Although the |
| happen quietly and without much fuss. A British | | | | Institute foundered briefly, following Eliava's death, |
| chemist, E. H. Hankin, noticed that water from the | | | | it eventually recovered, due to the selfless work |
| sewage-infested Ganges & Jumma rivers seemed | | | | done by dedicated staff, with very little pay who |
| to be able to kill cholera bacteria. In 1915, | | | | believed in what they were doing, to continue |
| simultaneous discoveries by British bacteriologist | | | | researching and producing phage tablets by the |
| Frederick W. Tort and Felix d'Herelle>/b>, of the | | | | million, mainly for the Soviet army. The tablets |
| Pasteur Institute, Paris found that a 'microbe' | | | | overcame the practical limitations of the original |
| found in the faeces of a dysentery patient could | | | | fragile glass vials. During the Soviet period, money |
| kill Shigella bacteria. He called this microbe a | | | | was no object at the Eliava Institute however, |
| 'bacteriiophage' from the Latin | | | | after 1996, when Gorbachev started 'Peristroika', |
| 'phage' meaning to eat, although until the advent | | | | funding dried up. The Georgians were on their |
| of the electron microscope the method of | | | | own, having their own political problems to |
| destruction was just speculation.Along with his | | | | contend with; during the civil war in Abkhazia, |
| colleagues at the Institute, they were the first to | | | | Georgian soldiers carried sprays of aphages for |
| realise the therapeutic implications of this new | | | | application to battlefield wounds, |
| discovery and in 1919 they set about treating a | | | | resulting in relatively few deaths by infection.The |
| 12 year old boy, suffering with severe dysentery. | | | | Glimmer of Hope...With the ever increasing |
| First giving themselves a trial dose 100-times the | | | | resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, although |
| planned dose, to check the | | | | doctors had known about this as far back as the |
| preparation's safety, they treated the boy, who | | | | 1940s, the West started to search for |
| made a full recovery in a few days. At the time | | | | alternatives; the hunted was fast becoming the |
| this must have seemed like a miracle!D'Herelle and | | | | hunter! When antibiotics attempt to kill resistant |
| his team travelled all over the world, setting up | | | | strains of bacteria, all that happens is that other |
| phage therapy trials by observing who recovered | | | | non-resistant bacteria are killed, leaving the field |
| naturally from various diseases and isolating the | | | | clear for resistant types to thrive without |
| phages to be grown on in labs. The initial | | | | competition. Friendly |
| enthusiasm was, forgive the pun, infectious! The | | | | bacteria are killed, often resulting in a weakened |
| American drug company Eli Lilly, amongs others | | | | immune system, resulting in more infection, |
| who sensed a Gold Rush and wanted to be in the | | | | resulting in more antibiotics, resulting in.......etc.The |
| vanguard, became involved in the 1930s. | | | | old stories of mysterious viruses which only, killed |
| However, the basic science was patchy and not | | | | bacteria were re-investigated. People started to |
| enough was known about the therapeutic action; | | | | contact the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, the capital city |
| why did some people recover and others did not? | | | | of Georgia where Felix d'Herelle had worked with |
| Quality of preparations was poor, there were few | | | | Giorgi Eliava to develop phage therapy, wanting to |
| controls or regard to testing phages for suitability | | | | know more. Some came with a genuine desire to |
| to deal with a disease, or indeed if they were still | | | | help, others to plagiarise that knowledge and take |
| alive before being administered!Due to its erratic | | | | advantage of the Georgians' expertise, for free. |
| performance, phage therapy was slated by the | | | | Others however, like Fred bledsoe of Fort |
| American Medical Association in 1934 and, with | | | | Wayne, Indiana, and musician Alfred Gertler, had |
| the discovery of the wonder-drug antibiotics, | | | | heard of the benefits of phage therapy and came |
| phage therapy fizzled out in the West to be | | | | simply to be cured of life threatening MRSA, |
| replaced by antibiotics, which seemed infallible. | | | | something that doctors, using current medications, |
| Little did they know....Phage work continued by | | | | had not managed to do; the next step would |
| Russians.Giorgi Eliava, a scientist from Georgia, | | | | have been amputation.It now just remains to be |
| worked with d'Herelle for 5 years and returned to | | | | seen which government is prepared to swallow its |
| his homneland to start a bacteriological research | | | | pride, introduce new guidlines to encompass the |
| institute, with the blessing (and funding) of fellow | | | | unique way that phage therapy works, and |
| Georgian, Joseph Stalin. D'Herelle himself left Yale | | | | actually do something now to alleviate the |
| University in 1933 to come and work in Georgia, | | | | suffering of thousands of MRSA sufferers. |
| much to the delight of the Soviets, who saw this | | | | Although more research is always needed, that is |
| as a political | | | | no excuse for not using the experience and |
| coup for the Soviet system against the | | | | knowledge gained by the Tbilisi experts. How |
| expensive, capitalistic Western drug companies | | | | much reinvention is enough? Someone with |
| and their monopolistic patents. However, disaster | | | | chronic, life-threathening MRSA will tell you the |
| struck the Institute when Eliava fell foul of Beria, | | | | answer.Mike Jozefiak and colleagues Grace Filby ( |
| boss of the dreaded KGB, who had him executed. | | | | and Canadian microbiologist Bill Riedel are trying to |
| Some say it was because Eliava went over | | | | promote awareness of a safe alternative to |
| Beria's head when refused phage funding, others | | | | antibiotics, the Bacteriophage. |
| say it was because they shared a common love | | | | the information and then please ask questions of |
| interest. We can never be sure - those were | | | | your member of parliament as to why western |
| turbulent times and personal rivalries often | | | | governments have ignored 80 years empirical |
| resulted in imprisonment in the | | | | evidence of very successful phage therapy in the |
| Gulags and almost certain death; the lucky ones | | | | former Soviet Union. |
| were executed | | | | |