The Review on Bacteriophage Therapy

Abstract

The emergence of multiple drug-resistant bacteria has prompted interest in alternatives to conventional antimicrobials. One of the possible replacement options for antibiotics is the use of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. Phage therapy is an important alternative to antibiotics in the current era of drug-resistant pathogens. Bacteriophages have played an important role in the expansion of molecular biology and have been used as antibacterial agents since 1966. The seemingly inexorable spread of antibiotic-resistance genes among microbial pathogens now threatens the long-term viability of our current antimicrobial therapy to treat severe bacterial infections such as sepsis. Antibiotic resistance is reaching a crisis situation in some bacterial pathogens where few therapeutic alternatives remain and pan-resistant strains are becoming more prevalent. Phages as bactericidal agents have been employed for 90 years as a means of treating bacterial infections in humans as well as other species, a process known as phage therapy. In this review, we explore both the early historical and more modern use of phages to treat human infections. We discuss in particular the little-reviewed French early work, along with the Polish, US, Georgian, and Russian historical experiences.