Latest news with #superbugs
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
I found a bacteria-eating virus in my loo - could it save your life?
I'm on the hunt for a microbial saviour – a type of virus that can treat infections rather than cause them. We all know the viral bad guys – Covid, flu, norovirus, herpes, chicken pox, measles… the list goes on. But there's a type of virus that's not interested in infiltrating our bodies, instead it preys on bacteria. They're known as bacteria eaters, or bacteriophage, or commonly as phage. Capturing them could give us new ways of treating infections, including superbugs that are becoming incurable. So, how to catch a killer? I've been promised it's surprisingly easy. The team at the Phage Collection Project sent me some vials to collect samples, along with a pair of gloves. All I need to do is hunt for some dirty water, the dirtier the better, dip the vials in and screw on the lid. I tried a couple of ponds, the juice from a worm-composting bin and then I needed my dirtiest sample. I didn't flush the toilet after a poo and left it for a couple of hours. I pop on a glove and hold my breath as I go in for the final sample. Strict hygiene instructions, including vigorous hand-washing, were followed, at all times. The vials were packaged up for collection and then three days later I headed off to the University of Southampton to see what was inside. "They were a bit dirty when I received them," phage scientist Michelle Lin tells me as we don our blue lab-coats and matching gloves to go into the Containment Level 2 microbiology laboratory. We grab my samples from the fridge, which look much clearer now they have been filtered of any… debris. "It's fine, it's needed," Michelle, who had the unpleasant job, reassures me. Filtering is the first step in looking for phage, next they get served dinner – a cocktail of yummy bacteria - to help them grow in number. Now comes the really cool bit – finding a useful phage. The scientists have been working with the local hospital to collect bacteria from patients with troublesome infections. Michelle grabs a petri dish that's growing bacteria from a patient with a painful, urinary tract infection that keeps coming back. And to my amazement – one of the phage I collected from my toilet was able to kill this infection in the lab. "The way to see that the phage has infected bacteria is you get these zones where the bacteria are not growing and that's because they've been killed by the phage," says Michelle. You can see the leopard print pattern in the petri dish where the phage have been making light work of a bacterial infection that modern medicine was struggling to shift. "As crazy as it sounds, well done to the toilet sample," says Michelle with great delight. And when I was offered the chance to name the phage, well of course it's the Gallagher-phage. "Sounds amazing to me," says Michelle. So far this is all good fun in the laboratory, but could my phage ever be given to a patient? "Yes and I hope so," says associate professor Dr Franklin Nobrega as we look at images of my phage captured with an electron microscope. "Your phage, already in just 24 hours, we were able to get in a high concentration and able to be a very good killer, which means this is very promising for patients, so thank you," said Dr Nobrega. Phage remind me of a moon lander – a big capsule on spindly legs – just instead of landing on the surface of the moon they use their legs to select their victim. They then hijack the bacteria and transform it into a mass-production factory for more phage, which burst out of their host, killing it in the process. There are pros and cons to phage. They reproduce as they go along so you don't need constant doses like you would with drugs. They are also very picky eaters. You need a precise match between phage and the strain of bacteria you're trying to treat whereas antibiotics tend to kill everything good and bad. So it is harder to find the right phage, but if you do it comes with fewer side effects. Dr Nobrega tells me infected wounds are a "very good application" for phage because you can apply them directly to the injury, but they can also be inhaled via a nebuliser to treat lung infections or to target urinary tract infections "which is our target currently". Phage science may sound new and exciting, but it is actually a century old idea stemming from the discoveries of Felix d'Hérelle and Frederick Twort in the 1910s. Bacteriophage therapy was a branch of medicine and the idea was compelling. Even as late as the 1940s there was an active pharmaceutical industry in western countries trying to produce phage-therapy to defeat bacterial infections. However, it was rapidly eclipsed by the wonder-drug of the 20th century. "Antibiotics were working so well that most people said 'why bother'," says Dr Nobrega. Work on phage therapy continued in places like Georgia and there are individual accounts of it working wonders; but there hasn't been the same depth of medical research and clinical trials as there have for drugs. But just as the initial success of antibiotics suppressed phage research, the failure of antibiotics is reigniting excitement at their potential. More than a million people a year are already dying from infections caused by microbes that are resistant to treatment – it's known as the "silent pandemic". By 2050, that figure is projected to reach 10 million a year. This "antibiotic apocalypse" would mean common infections could kill again and undermine modern medicine. The drugs are also used to make organ transplants, open surgery and chemotherapy possible. "The predictions around antibiotic resistance are very frightening, but the reality is we're seeing it now and it's only going to get worse," says Prof Paul Elkington, the director of the institute for medical innovation at the University of Southampton. He is also a doctor with a speciality in lung medicine and is already at the point where - after a year of treatment and turning to ever more toxic and less effective antibiotics - "in the end you have to have a conversation [and say] 'we can't treat this infection, we're really sorry'". He says we can't rely solely on antibiotics in the future and phage are a potential alternative. But he warns the steps needed to get from the laboratory and into patients are "uncharted". Things are changing. Phage therapy is available in the UK on compassionate grounds when other treatments have failed. And the drugs regulator – The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – has published its first official rules to support the development of phage therapy. "If one looks 15-20 years into the future, with the emerging methodologies, it's going to be possible for them to be much more widely available and for doctors to prescribe phage instead of antibiotics for some infections," says Prof Elkington. If you want to see if you can find a friendly virus too then The Phage Collection Project are launching their new sampling kits at the Summer Science Exhibition taking place this week at the Royal Society and through their website. "Antimicrobial resistance is something that could affect all of us," says Esme Brinsden from the Phage Collection Project, "when the public get involved they may just find the next phage that can help treat and save a patient's life". Photography by the BBC's Emma Lynch
BBC News
16 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Phage therapy: I found a bacteria-eating virus in my loo
I'm on the hunt for a microbial saviour – a type of virus that can treat infections rather than cause all know the viral bad guys – Covid, flu, norovirus, herpes, chicken pox, measles… the list goes there's a type of virus that's not interested in infiltrating our bodies, instead it preys on known as bacteria eaters, or bacteriophage, or commonly as them could give us new ways of treating infections, including superbugs that are becoming how to catch a killer?I've been promised it's surprisingly easy. The team at the Phage Collection Project sent me some vials to collect samples, along with a pair of gloves. All I need to do is hunt for some dirty water, the dirtier the better, dip the vials in and screw on the lid. I tried a couple of ponds, the juice from a worm-composting bin and then I needed my dirtiest sample. I didn't flush the toilet after a poo and left it for a couple of hours. I pop on a glove and hold my breath as I go in for the final sample. Strict hygiene instructions, including vigorous hand-washing, were followed, at all vials were packaged up for collection and then three days later I headed off to the University of Southampton to see what was inside."They were a bit dirty when I received them," phage scientist Michelle Lin tells me as we don our blue lab-coats and matching gloves to go into the Containment Level 2 microbiology grab my samples from the fridge, which look much clearer now they have been filtered of any… debris. "It's fine, it's needed," Michelle, who had the unpleasant job, reassures me. Filtering is the first step in looking for phage, next they get served dinner – a cocktail of yummy bacteria - to help them grow in comes the really cool bit – finding a useful phage. The scientists have been working with the local hospital to collect bacteria from patients with troublesome grabs a petri dish that's growing bacteria from a patient with a painful, urinary tract infection that keeps coming to my amazement – one of the phage I collected from my toilet was able to kill this infection in the lab."The way to see that the phage has infected bacteria is you get these zones where the bacteria are not growing and that's because they've been killed by the phage," says Michelle. You can see the leopard print pattern in the petri dish where the phage have been making light work of a bacterial infection that modern medicine was struggling to shift."As crazy as it sounds, well done to the toilet sample," says Michelle with great when I was offered the chance to name the phage, well of course it's the Gallagher-phage."Sounds amazing to me," says far this is all good fun in the laboratory, but could my phage ever be given to a patient?"Yes and I hope so," says associate professor Dr Franklin Nobrega as we look at images of my phage captured with an electron microscope. "Your phage, already in just 24 hours, we were able to get in a high concentration and able to be a very good killer, which means this is very promising for patients, so thank you," said Dr remind me of a moon lander – a big capsule on spindly legs – just instead of landing on the surface of the moon they use their legs to select their then hijack the bacteria and transform it into a mass-production factory for more phage, which burst out of their host, killing it in the process. There are pros and cons to phage. They reproduce as they go along so you don't need constant doses like you would with are also very picky eaters. You need a precise match between phage and the strain of bacteria you're trying to treat whereas antibiotics tend to kill everything good and bad. So it is harder to find the right phage, but if you do it comes with fewer side Nobrega tells me infected wounds are a "very good application" for phage because you can apply them directly to the injury, but they can also be inhaled via a nebuliser to treat lung infections or to target urinary tract infections "which is our target currently". Phage - the friendly virus Phage science may sound new and exciting, but it is actually a century old idea stemming from the discoveries of Felix d'Hérelle and Frederick Twort in the therapy was a branch of medicine and the idea was compelling. Even as late as the 1940s there was an active pharmaceutical industry in western countries trying to produce phage-therapy to defeat bacterial it was rapidly eclipsed by the wonder-drug of the 20th century."Antibiotics were working so well that most people said 'why bother'," says Dr Nobrega. Work on phage therapy continued in places like Georgia and there are individual accounts of it working wonders; but there hasn't been the same depth of medical research and clinical trials as there have for just as the initial success of antibiotics suppressed phage research, the failure of antibiotics is reigniting excitement at their than a million people a year are already dying from infections caused by microbes that are resistant to treatment – it's known as the "silent pandemic". By 2050, that figure is projected to reach 10 million a "antibiotic apocalypse" would mean common infections could kill again and undermine modern medicine. The drugs are also used to make organ transplants, open surgery and chemotherapy possible."The predictions around antibiotic resistance are very frightening, but the reality is we're seeing it now and it's only going to get worse," says Prof Paul Elkington, the director of the institute for medical innovation at the University of Southampton. He is also a doctor with a speciality in lung medicine and is already at the point where - after a year of treatment and turning to ever more toxic and less effective antibiotics - "in the end you have to have a conversation [and say] 'we can't treat this infection, we're really sorry'".He says we can't rely solely on antibiotics in the future and phage are a potential he warns the steps needed to get from the laboratory and into patients are "uncharted".Things are changing. Phage therapy is available in the UK on compassionate grounds when other treatments have failed. And the drugs regulator – The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – has published its first official rules to support the development of phage therapy."If one looks 15-20 years into the future, with the emerging methodologies, it's going to be possible for them to be much more widely available and for doctors to prescribe phage instead of antibiotics for some infections," says Prof you want to see if you can find a friendly virus too then The Phage Collection Project are launching their new sampling kits at the Summer Science Exhibition taking place this week at the Royal Society and through their website."Antimicrobial resistance is something that could affect all of us," says Esme Brinsden from the Phage Collection Project, "when the public get involved they may just find the next phage that can help treat and save a patient's life".Photography by the BBC's Emma Lynch
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Otago scientist explores controversial phage therapy
Photo: AFP Phage therapy has been hailed as the next line of defence against the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The therapy works by using viruses to kill and selectively target bacteria. It is not approved for use in NZ, and is seen as a controversial treatment. But as concerns about antibiotic resistance grow - The World Health Organisation has called antimicrobial resistance one of the top global public health threats - phage therapy is increasingly becoming of interest to scientists and the general public. Dr Leah Smith is a research fellow in the University of Otago's department of microbiology and immunology and has been researching how phages can be evolved.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Poo transplant: 'Poo pills' and the fight against superbugs
You might think of it as just some stinky brown waste but scientists are finding lots of useful ways to use human latest is in the fight against superbug infections - infections that don't respond to antibiotics - using pills filled with freeze-dried faeces. The idea is that stool samples packed with good bacteria from healthy people are put into a pill, taken by someone with a superbug infection and the healthy bacteria will help to flush out the to the UK Health Security Agency, antibiotic resistant infections are on the rise but Dr Blair Merrick who tested the pills says: "We could potentially, in the future, replace antibiotics with microbiome [therapies] - that's the big picture, so there's a lot of potential." Why are superbugs a problem? Humans have been using antibiotics to treat infections for nearly 100 years. But as taking them became more common in recent years, sometimes in situations where they weren't needed, some strains of bacteria have developed a resistance to types of antibiotics. It means they can be difficult to treat and life-threatening. According to the NHS, the biggest worry is that new strains of bacteria will eventually also become resistant to antibiotics. How does a poo transplant work? Poo samples from healthy donors are tested to make sure there are no harmful bugs and undigested food is removed before it's freeze dried into a powder. That's then put into a pill which dissolves in the bowel to released the poopy powder. The study, which was carried out at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London, suggests the superbugs are flushed out of the bowel and replaced by healthy gut bacteria. Poo transplants like this aren't a new thing. They've already been successfully used in treating Clostridium difficile (C. diff) which is a type of bacteria that can cause diarrhoea, stomach ache, loss of appetite and it can also make a person feel are also looking at poo transplants as a treatment for liver disease.
The Sun
09-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
New ‘poo pills' could flush out killer bugs that kill one million Brits each year
SUPERBUGS, or drug-resistant infections, are projected to cause more than 39 million deaths between now and 2050. This means that, on average, over three people are expected to die from antibiotic -resistant infections every minute. But now UK doctor are attempting to clear the number of dangerous superbug infections by using pills containing freeze-dried faeces. The "poo pills" contain stool samples from health donors, packed with good bacteria. And the idea comes from previous data that suggests superbugs can be flushed out of the bowel and replaced with a mix of healthy gut bacteria. Dr Blair Merrick, who has been testing the pills at St Guys and Thomas' hospitals, said the focus is on the bowels which are "the biggest reservoir of antibiotic resistance in humans". The bowel is considered a significant reservoir for these resistant bacteria, and from there they can cause trouble in places such as the urinary tract or bloodstream. Dr Merrick added: "So there's a lot in 'can you get rid of them from the gut?" Currently, people with recurrent illness caused by hard-to-treat bacterium Clostridium difficile can be offered faecal transplants. Scientists noticed they also had the potential to get rid of superbugs. In a new study, published in the Journal of Infection, researchers focused on 41 patients who had an infection caused by drug-resistant bacteria in the past six months. They were given pills made from faeces which people had donated to a stool bank. What is Klebsiella pneumonia? Each stool sample was tested to ensure it didn't contain and harmful bugs. Undigested food was removed, and then it was freeze dried into a powder. The powder, contained inside a pill, can then pass through the stomach unharmed and reach the intestines, where it then dissolves. Twenty of the participants were given three sets of capsules on three consecutive days, while the rest received placebo pills. For those who took the capsules , the donor bacteria was detectable in their gut flora a month later. Dr Merrick told the BBC: "It's very exciting. There's a real shift from 20 years ago, where all bacteria and viruses were assumed to do you harm; to now where we realise they are completely necessary to our overall health." To help avoid getting superbugs, the NHS recommends practising good hygiene - wash your hands frequently with soap and water, especially before eating, after using the toilet, and after coughing or sneezing. Use antibiotics responsibly - avoid taking antibiotics for viral infections like colds or the flu, as they won't work. Even if you feel better, finish all of your prescribed medication to ensure the infection is fully treated. And don't share antibiotics - sharing can be harmful and can lead to resistance. Also, take preventative measures when travelling - choose food from reliable sources, and ensure food is properly cooked and handled, avoid drinking water that may be contaminated, and make sure you are up-to-date on all recommended vaccinations before travelling.
