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Plumbing the depths of women's bladders may shower researchers with viral gold.
In a wee survey, Loyola University Chicago researchers found the sac-like organ brimming with never-before-seen viruses that can kill and manipulate bacteria. Their findings, published this week in the Journal of Bacteriology, offer a first-pass catalogue of the rich diversity of bacteria-infecting viruses—aka "phages" or "bacteriophages"—in the bladder microbiome. The researchers suggest that further studies into the streaming viral content could one day lead to phage-based methods to void bacterial infections and identify disorders.
"The thought that there's not bacteria in urine is false," Catherine Putonti told Ars straight away. Putonti, a bioinformatics researcher and microbiologist at Loyola, is the leading author of the study. "The big picture is that there are a lot of viruses that are part of these bacterial communities as well."
With an early hold on what viruses are present in the bladder, the researchers are excited for more urinary deep dives to see if there's a core "bladder phageome" and what those viruses might be doing—or be able to do. "Now we can start asking questions," Putonti said.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by pdfernhout on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:40PM
US entreprenurial attempts: https://campother.blogspot.com/2011/04/phage-therapy-and-borrelia-burgdorferi.html [blogspot.com]
Conditions that can be treated with it at a facility in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia:
http://www.phagetherapycenter.com/pii/PatientServlet?command=static_conditions&language=0 [phagetherapycenter.com]
In Tbilisi it is already being used to treat Urinary Tract Infections:
http://www.phagetherapycenter.com/pii/PatientServlet?command=static_uti [phagetherapycenter.com]
"Bacteriophages are particularly effective for treating urinary infections. Combinations of phages called "phage cocktails" are the main medication used during treatment. Phage cocktails work in a manner similar to the antibiotic/drug cocktails are employed by an infectious disease specialist to treat a resistant infection: in these cases, more than one drug is used to control or eliminate the infection. In theory, those bacteria that are not sensitive to one of the drugs tend to be sensitive to the other. Phage cocktails typically contain a minimum of three and usually more many phages that are effective for a given bacterial species. Unlike antibiotics, bacteriophages are able to break down biofilms. Phage cocktails have been shown to be very efficient at eliminating resistant strains and, given a high enough concentration, the phage cocktail will even evolve its effectiveness at a rate faster than the bacteria can acquire resistance characteristics from other bacteria involved or associated with the infection, or from the environment.
Because UTI's represent a wide range of conditions -- some that are potentially not caused by bacterial infection, Phage Therapy Center's treatment must always begin with a urine sample. This is required in order to detect what bacteria is causing the infection. This sample must sent to our laboratory several weeks prior to coming for treatment. Our laboratory grows the isolated strains and tests to be sure that the infection is sensitive to the commercial bacteriophage cocktail; if it is not sufficiently sensitive, then a custom phage cocktail (autophage) must be prepared for the patient. It is also desirable that the patient provide a medical report. If no infection is indicated in the sample, the patient should contact the Phage Therapy Center staff for additional instructions.
When the patient arrives at the clinic, a new sample is taken and tested; a complete examination is provided. Urine samples will be tested throughout the treatment to determine if the infection has changed and to verify that the phage cocktail remains effective.
In general, chronic urinary infections can requires a minimum of two weeks of outpatient care to complete. In some cases, as the biofilms clear and the dominant pathogens are eliminated, others pathogenic bacteria that did not initially show up in laboratory cultures may present in the urine sample. The clinic will re-test and match phages with these strains. This process may need to be repeated several times, until the infection is completely cleared, depending on the individual. Therefore, the patient should be prepared to stay at the clinic for the entire course of treatment in order to receive the best treatment results."
The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.