{"id":1562,"date":"2020-06-27T13:22:57","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.l7labs.de\/l7sitedev\/web\/?p=1562"},"modified":"2020-10-12T22:14:45","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T20:14:45","slug":"forbes-could-bacteria-eating-viruses-help-treat-patients-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.l7labs.de\/l7sitedev\/web\/forbes-could-bacteria-eating-viruses-help-treat-patients-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Forbes – Could Bacteria Eating Viruses Help Treat Patients With Covid-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/12″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”5\/6″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Systems biologist Marcin Wojewodzic, PhD, a researcher at the Cancer Registry of Norway, is calling for clinical trials to be carried out to test whether a bacteria eating virus could help treat patients with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Outlining his ideas in a\u00a0scientific journal<\/a>, Wojewodzic says he thinks these viruses \u2014 called bacteriophages, or \u2018phages\u2019 for short \u2014 could be used to help patients with Covid-19 in two main ways:\u00a0by fighting bacterial infections and producing antibodies.<\/p>\n

\"bacteriophages\"

illustration of the bacteriophage virus that infects and replicates within a bacterium. 3D illustration – GETTY<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

An antibiotic alternative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These mini viruses, which are literally called \u2018bacteria devourers\u2019 if you know your Greek, will happily munch on bacteria as much as you will let them.<\/p>\n

Phages have actually been\u00a0used to treat people with bacterial infections<\/a>\u00a0in Russia and surrounding countries such as Georgia since the 1920\u2019s, but their use was abandoned in the West largely due to the advent of antibiotic use.<\/p>\n

But, you may ask, why is this relevant? Isn\u2019t Covid-19 caused by a virus?<\/p>\n

It is, but one of the leading causes of death from Covid-19 is from lung inflammation due to pneumonia. This can be caused by the virus, but various reports have suggested that secondary infections with a microbe other than the SARS-CoV-2 virus – such as bacteria or fungi – are present in up to 50% of patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Wojewodzic estimates that up to 70% of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 are given antibiotics to protect them against bacterial infection.<\/p>\n

While we are in the middle of a viral pandemic, we are also in the midst of an antibiotic resistance crisis, which the pandemic is\u00a0in danger of making much worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increased use of antibiotics due to the pandemic can have many invisible public health risks. The more they are used, the more risk some bacteria will develop resistance to them, rendering their use less and less effective,\u201d says Wojewodzic.<\/p>\n

Phage therapy could be an effective and specific way of killing any bacterial invaders in these patients. These viruses can be used to only knock out one strain of bacteria, something most antibiotics can\u2019t do. This could help protect the \u2018good\u2019 microbes in a person\u2019s gut that can actually help them to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible they could be used in conjunction with antibiotics to make the drugs more effective \u2014 something that has been\u00a0seen in tuberculosis patients<\/a>\u00a0treated with both phage and antibiotics.<\/p>\n

An antibody production factory<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There has been a lot of talk about whether the immune system of people infected with Covid-19 produces antibodies and if so whether these protect them against being re-infected. One option that is being explored by a number of researchers and companies is to produce\u00a0antibody-based treatments<\/a>\u00a0to help patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection fight off the virus.<\/p>\n

Wojewodzic believes a good method of producing these antibodies could be to use phage. By artificially modifying the phage genome, they could be used as mini production factories for making protective antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this strategy works, it will hopefully buy time to enable a patient to produce their own specific antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and thus reduce the damage caused by an excessive immunological reaction,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

This technique, known as \u2018phage display\u2019 by experts, has already been used extensively by researchers and various companies to make recombinant antibodies for use as medical treatments.<\/p>\n

For example, a company called Cambridge Antibody Technology in the UK used this technique to develop\u00a0\u00a0Humira<\/a>\u00a0(adalimumab), a blockbuster drug (now owned by the big pharma company AbbVie) that is used to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions. The researchers who invented this technique\u00a0won the Nobel prize<\/a>\u00a0for their work in 2018.[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][nectar_cta btn_style=”arrow-animation” heading_tag=”h4″ text_color=”#282e33″ button_color=”default” link_type=”new_tab” alignment=”left” display=”block” link_text=”Read Full Article on forbes.com” url=”https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/helenalbert\/2020\/06\/27\/could-bacteria-eating-viruses-help-treat-patients-with-covid-19\/#63e8b28e1e49″][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/12″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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