Antibiotic resistance: a patient saved by bacteriophages

A team from the University of Geneva and HUG has for the first-time used bacteriophages to successfully treat a patient suffering from an antibiotic-resistant chronic bacterial lung infection. Image: Wikimedia) A multidisciplinary team from the University of Geneva and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) has for the first-time used bacteriophages to successfully treat a patient suffering from an antibiotic-resistant chronic bacterial lung infection. This "premiere" was achieved thanks to a highly personalised, multidisciplinary approach involving the selection of a bacteriophage specific to the patient's multidrug resistant bacteria. While phages are one of the strategies considered to combat the bacterial antibiotic resistance, much work remains to be done to select phages specific to each patient, establish treatment protocols, understand the side effects and avoid the emergence of phage-resistant strains. This unique case of individualised therapy is helping to provide answers. It has been published in the journal Nature Communications . In this publication, a team from the HUG and the University of Geneva used phagotherapy to successfully treat a 41-year-old patient suffering from chronic lung disease caused by a multidrug-resistant strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa .