Bacteriophage Therapy - How it Works

Bacterio-phage therapy is the medical therapeutic use of lytic bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. Basically, Bacteriophages (commonly shortened as "phages") invade only problematic bacteria cells, causing them to die.

In this age of antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA, Strep, and others, phage therapy is an potent alternative to antibiotics. Phages have a very important benefit over conventional treatments such as antibiotics because they are 100% harmless to the patient while they are specifically killing off the problematic bacteria.

Phage therapy can be administered very quickly, as soon as the problematic bacteria is identified through a simple lab test (like the swab test one has to test for Strep). Bacteriophages can be created very quickly in response to new bacterial infections.

The truly fascinating benefit of phages, particularly when they are held in comparison to antibiotics and other conventional treatments, is that they "keep up" with the genetic changes and mutations that bacteria go through to try to become resistant to treatment. Put simply, the phages manage to keep up with the kinds of evolution that make some diseases resistant to antibiotics.

Finally, bacteriophage treatments also have the advantage of not being so widespread as to kill of "helpful" bacteria that can help the body fight off infection and disease. For some people this may also reduce the side effects they otherwise feel with antibiotics.