Bacteriophage therapy: an overview and the position of Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases.

Bacteriophage therapy: an overview and the position of Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases. Infez Med. 2020 Sep 01;28(3):322-331 Authors: Cesta N, Di Luca M, Corbellino M, Tavio M, Galli M, Andreoni M Abstract In recent years, the increase of antibiotic resistance and the lack in the pipeline of novel antimicrobial molecules make bacterial infections difficult to treat. Among European countries, Italy is the one region with a higher number of deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Moreover, a major concern is represented by biofilm-related infections. The ability of bacteria to form biofilm in presence of implanted-medical devices represents a further challenge for the treatment of bacterial infections. Thus, the development of alternative strategies to fight multi-drug resistant bacteria embedded in biofilms is an urgent need. Nowadays, bacteriophage therapy represents one of the potential and promising treatment options to overcome antibiotic resistance phenomenon. Bacteriophages are viruses capable to infect and replicate within bacterial cell. They are widespread in soil and water and play a role in microbial physiology. Since their discovery at the beginning of the twentieth century bacteriophages were used with therapeutic purposes against bacterial infections. However, the advent of the antibiotic era spurred medical doctors to abandon phage therapy in return for the most promising antibiotic therapy. ...
Source: Infezioni in Medicina - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Infez Med Source Type: research