Some viruses are said to be super effective in fighting bacteria
The news follows last week’s release of a major Government review into antibiotic resistance which warned that resistant superbugs could one day pose a bigger risk to people’s health than cancer.
Now leading experts are calling for more funding into bug-eating viruses, known as bacteriophages or phages, the focus of a major conference in July and the subject of a Department of Health report.
Research has shown the viruses can be turned into cutting-edge treatments to destroy C.difficile, e-coli and other superbugs that have become unresponsive to antibiotics.
They could also be used to prevent bacterial infections.
Viruses can be turned into cutting-edge treatments to destroy bacteria such as e-coli
Professor Martha Clokie, from the University of Leicester, said: “Less than a century after their discovery, the future impact of antibiotics is dwindling at a pace that no one anticipated, with more and more bacteria out-smarting and ‘out-evolving’ these miracle drugs.
The future impact of antibiotics is dwindling at a pace that no one anticipated
“This research into phages could lead to a revolution in treatment. It represents a major shift in the way we treat bacterial infection.”
The viruses, found in nature, destroy specific bugs by infecting and locking into the bacteria genetic code and killing it.
Scientists elsewhere have long been researching phage therapy
They can be taken orally, sprayed on to an infection or administered by injection.
Unlike antibiotics, which can wipe out “good” and “bad” bacteria in the body, phages have few side effects because each is evolved to target only one bacteria.
These cures can be taken orally, sprayed on to an infection or administered by injection
Scientists elsewhere have long been researching phage therapy.
Grace Filby, 64, who had a gum infection treated with phages at the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2007, said: “I just put some drops on my gums and gauze on top and kept that going for some days. It cleared my infection.”