Stalin’s bacteria could be used to combat MRSA
Jeanne:
August 13th, 2007
Researchers believe that a treatment used by the Red Army to combat bacterial infections could now be used to deal with the deadly MRSA bug which, in recent years, has claimed many lives in British hospitals. The cure for bacterial infections was a staple in the kit-bags of Red Army doctors and is still used commonly in Eastern European hospitals. It was developed by Soviet scientists during the 1930s. Whilst antibiotics such as penicillin gradually became the norm in the West, in the Soviet Union, Georgian scientists pioneered the development of what became known as bacteriophages (which literally means ‘to eat bacteria’). Bacteriophages were used by Soviet doctors to treat everything from gangrene to strep throat.
Doctors now believe that the Soviet treatment could be used to treat MRSA sufferers in the UK. It is likely to have important uses in the future as well. With doctors more willing than ever to prescribe antibiotics, a number of bacterial strains have now shown resistance to such treatments. Drug companies have found it increasingly difficult to develop new types of antibiotics, not least because of the time and money costs involved. Research into a new drug costs in the region of $800 million and it can take up to ten years before the new drug enters the market.
However, bacteriophages have their limitations as well. A specific phage is required to treat each type of infection. Nevertheless, according to Dr Ron Dixon, Head of the Department of Forensic and Biomedical Sciences at Lincoln University, this feature is not necessarily a disadvantage:
It’s this specificity which makes them so attractive. It will only kill the bacteria you want it to.
Bacteriophages work in a specific manner. On entering the body, they latch on to the offending bacteria infusing their own DNA into its cells. The bacteria cells then transform into phages. Once the job is complete, the bacteriophages disappear. At the moment, scientists have only a very limited knowledge about potential side effects associated with this treatment. However, Soviet scientists have noted a number of deaths as a result of the treatment during the 1930s and 1940s. Nevertheless, British doctors are cautiously optimistic that the Red Army’s treatment of bacterial infection could one day be used to combat more modern diseases.