After a decade of research, ContraFect Corporation, a small biotech company based in Yonkers, N.Y., is preparing to test bacteriophages—viruses that infect and destroy bacteria—in people as a potential alternative to overused antibiotics for treating and preventing bacterial infections. The first trials for patient safety are expected to start by the end of the year and will provide valuable insight into whether this approach, first discovered about a century ago, can be effective.

Scientific American interviewed Vincent Fischetti, a ContraFect microbiologist and a professor of bacteriology at the Rockefeller University, about his promising work in this area for its August issue.

In 2010 Fischetti and fellow Rockefeller microbiologist Raymond Schuch spoke with Scientific American about their phage research, in particular how viruses infecting anthrax and other Bacillus bacteria control their growth both in the soil and in earthworms. Fischetti and Schuch had discovered eight new viruses during their research, including two they isolated from the guts of earthworms found in anthrax-infested soil.

Curiously, when the researchers exposed a lab strain of anthracis to each of these phages separately, they found that, rather than bursting open and killing the bacteria, as lytic phages usually do, the viruses boosted the survival of their bacterial host. For the infected anthracis, the number of cells in test tube cultures of dirt and water remained constant for at least six months. In contrast, the population of phage-free anthracis dropped in half by 2.5 months and was nonexistent after six months.

Read more about their research.

7 Comments

1. 1. jamescohn 02:29 PM 8/7/12

   D'Herelle, reported on large scale use of phage against cholera in both Egypt and India. Did British medical officers ever record the results? I also remember hearing about a phage clinic that D'Herelle helped set up in Georgia before the war, and which is still in existence. What has been its success rate?
   
   Thanks

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2. 2. Darwin1858 12:49 AM 8/8/12

   The quick test to demonstrate to students how mutation and evolution occur in the in the Petri dish is to select for resistance for viruses, usually with several hundred arising spontaneously overnight. Since the viral lysogens (also presumably resistant) survive better in the soil or general environment, the use of viruses as a therapeutic approach seems to be without a future. As the previous commentator mentioned many attempts have been made and so far and there are no substantiated success report ..or are we mistaken?

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3. 3. Ed Rybicki 09:42 AM 8/8/12

   There is a 2007 vintage Macmillan Science ebook entitled "Viruses vs. Superbugs" by Thomas Hausler, which gives an excellent and thoroughly detailed account of d'Herelle and his phage therapy, as well as of the modern development of this in Georgia [Republic of] and elsewhere.
   
   And contrary to the statement above that " the use of viruses as a therapeutic approach seems to be without a future", it would seem to be one of the ONLY ways in which to combat the soon-to-be overwhelming tide of multiply antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Largely because you can select specific bacteriophages to target phage-resistant bacteria, or simply reisolate more from the environment.

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4. 4. Ed Rybicki 09:46 AM 8/8/12

   PS: anyone interested in early microbiology / virology should look for a paper in the online Annales de l'Institut Pasteur from 1896, entitled "Les Microbes des Rivieres de l'Inde", in which one M Hankin describes how Indian river water was an incredibly effective means of killing Vibrio cholerae - almost certainly, in retrospect, because of the amazingly high titre of vibriophages in it.

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5. 5. jamescohn in reply to Ed Rybicki 12:20 PM 8/8/12

   Thank you I appreciate it.

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6. 6. jimfromcanada 02:13 AM 8/14/12

   This technology was used and being developed in Russia until the collapse of the Soviet Union and government support disappeared. Luckily a western entrepreneur was found who would continue to fund its development and find a way to carry on the research to bring it to market. It would be nice to see some acknowledgement of the Russian scientists who were involved in the development of this technology.

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7. 7. Ed Rybicki 02:24 AM 8/14/12

   Read "Viruses vs Superbugs", mentioned above: this gives an exhaustive account of the development of the technology - which was strongest in Georgia in the old USSR, and not Russia.

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