WEBVTT - Superbugs' Natural Predator

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<v Speaker 1>As infections become harder to treat because of antibiotic resistance,

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<v Speaker 1>scientists are enlisting help from bacteria's oldest enemy, viruses, so

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<v Speaker 1>called bacteria phases literally, bacteria eaters are viruses that target bacteria.

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<v Speaker 1>While researchers have known about them for a century and

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<v Speaker 1>even use them to treat people, these biological agents have

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<v Speaker 1>been largely ignored in most of the world since penicillin

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<v Speaker 1>became available until recently. That is Welcome to Prognosis, a

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<v Speaker 1>podcast about health and science, medical technology, and the changes

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<v Speaker 1>that are underway across the world. I'm your host, Michelle

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<v Speaker 1>fay Cortes. For our third season, we're delving deeply into

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<v Speaker 1>the human cost of bacterial infections that can't be stopped

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<v Speaker 1>by even our most potent antibiotics. The loss of these

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<v Speaker 1>miracle cures has been described as one of the biggest

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<v Speaker 1>threats to global public health. It spurred a search for

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<v Speaker 1>alternatives to antibiotics. In this episode, Bloomberg's Jason Gale explores

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<v Speaker 1>how that effort is leading scientists back to a Soviet

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<v Speaker 1>era inspired treatment known as phage therapy that's saving the

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<v Speaker 1>lives of patients who couldn't be cured with antibiotics alone.

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<v Speaker 1>He also examines the discoveries being made in some of

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<v Speaker 1>England's smelliest soils that promised to protect us against two

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<v Speaker 1>major sources of deadly disease. Here's Jason. This is Joe Grimwood.

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<v Speaker 1>He's a retired chiropractor who lives at the end of

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<v Speaker 1>a dirt road in the hills outside of Reno, Nevada,

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<v Speaker 1>with Jasmine, his fifty pound bulldog. People terry across and

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<v Speaker 1>more recently an orange second hand track and it's got

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<v Speaker 1>a loader bucket on the front and a scraper on

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<v Speaker 1>the back. It's what they call him midside. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>thirty five horsepower, three cylinder diesel. It's four wheel drive.

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<v Speaker 1>It could lift about eighteen hundred pounds. Joel has big

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<v Speaker 1>plans for it. So we're gonna redo the driveway here

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<v Speaker 1>with it. Well, what I want to do is put

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<v Speaker 1>a garden in over here, and it's you know, at

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<v Speaker 1>least a core acre. Joel is sixty six. He wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>always this active. In fact, a year and a half

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<v Speaker 1>ago he was gravely ill. I practiced chiropractic for over

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<v Speaker 1>twenty years on the north shore Lake Tahoe. In two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand and seven, I had a cardiac arrest and that

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<v Speaker 1>ended that Joel had a diseased hot muscle that put

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<v Speaker 1>him in cardiac failure. Five years ago. He became so

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<v Speaker 1>ill that he needed a hot transplant to buy him

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<v Speaker 1>some time while he waited for a donut. Ogan his

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<v Speaker 1>ductors implying to the mechanical pump known as a left

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<v Speaker 1>ventricular assist device, which is a pump that takes over

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<v Speaker 1>for your left ventricle and pumps blood from your left

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<v Speaker 1>ventricle to your order. The device fitted in Joel's chest

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<v Speaker 1>was powered by an electrical cord that exited his abdomen,

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<v Speaker 1>and this cord it was a direct connection between the

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<v Speaker 1>inside of his heart and the outside world. Despite his

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<v Speaker 1>best efforts to keep it clean, bacteria started growing inside

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<v Speaker 1>the pump. Within a year, Joel was battling a potentially

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<v Speaker 1>deadly infection. I was in all the hospital for three years.

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<v Speaker 1>I was on ivy antibiotics most of that time, and

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<v Speaker 1>they just never could quite knock it out. Surgeons would

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<v Speaker 1>scrape away dead tissue, vacuum up bacteria laden material, and

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<v Speaker 1>sterilize and dress an open wound that gradually grew to

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<v Speaker 1>the size of a key line in Joel's case. Antibiotics

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<v Speaker 1>were subduing the jams in his bloodstream, but we're powerless

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<v Speaker 1>against their mushrooming source, the slime forming bacteria growing on

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<v Speaker 1>his implant. Scientists called the slime bio film. As a

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<v Speaker 1>survival strategy, Bacteria builds structured communities on surfaces, including on

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<v Speaker 1>artificial hips and knees, pacemakers, and catheters, even on airways

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<v Speaker 1>of cystic fibrosis patients. This gunk is a fortress light

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<v Speaker 1>barrier that protects bacteria from antibiotics and the immune system.

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<v Speaker 1>The propensity for bacteria to develop bio films and prosthetic

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<v Speaker 1>implants is a major threat to modern medicine. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>more than a million knee and hip replacement operations are

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<v Speaker 1>performed annually in the United States alone, and the joint

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<v Speaker 1>infections that result cost more than one billion dollars in

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<v Speaker 1>hospital bills. You know, I was in trouble and I

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<v Speaker 1>is going to die. I was getting out feeling, but

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<v Speaker 1>I never lost the whole, the faith of belief that

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<v Speaker 1>I had survived this. I don't think there was much

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<v Speaker 1>point in thinking any other way. I had to stay positive.

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<v Speaker 1>Joel sent me pictures of what his chest looked like

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<v Speaker 1>without the dressings. His gaping chest wound is about six

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<v Speaker 1>inches long and the color of uncooked steak. I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>especially squeamish, but being able to see directly into his

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<v Speaker 1>body and identify the mushroom shaped base of the pump, well,

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<v Speaker 1>it made me feel nauseous. Joel desperately needed a new heart,

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<v Speaker 1>but the bacterial slime growing on his heart pump made

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<v Speaker 1>a transplant too dangerous. Four hospitals refused to put him

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<v Speaker 1>on the waitlist because of the infection risk. Removing the

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<v Speaker 1>device would dislodge a lethal maelstrom of staff Loococcus aureous bacteria.

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<v Speaker 1>If Joel was going to survive, he needed to get

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<v Speaker 1>rid of the bacteria, and that was impossible with antibiotics alone.

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<v Speaker 1>And the last I'd say six months or so, I

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<v Speaker 1>really got a sense of urgency because it just wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>going away. Hope was dwindling. That is until the fifth

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<v Speaker 1>hospital offered John something Else, a type of experimental treatment

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<v Speaker 1>that had been courageously attempted there a couple of years earlier.

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<v Speaker 1>It was subsequently tried with overall positive results in half

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<v Speaker 1>a dozen patients in much of two thousand and six,

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<v Speaker 1>Californian academic Tom Patterson became the hospital's first recipient. He

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<v Speaker 1>got severely ill with an incurable bacterial infection. He was

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<v Speaker 1>close to dying in the hospital attached to the University

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<v Speaker 1>of California, San Diego, when his wife came up with

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<v Speaker 1>one last option, an approach that flourished in the former

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<v Speaker 1>Soviet Union under Stalinism but hadn't been used in the

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<v Speaker 1>US for generations. And that's page therapy. This is Stephanie Strafty.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist and the Associate Dean of

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<v Speaker 1>Global Health Sciences at UC San Diego, where I also

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<v Speaker 1>co direct a new feage therapy center called iPath. The

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<v Speaker 1>treatment involves using specially selected and prepared viruses to attack

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<v Speaker 1>disease causing bacteria. Professor Strafty took that unconventional approach to

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<v Speaker 1>save her husband Tom, and its success led to Joe

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<v Speaker 1>Grimwood and other patients getting it. In Tom Patterson's case,

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<v Speaker 1>it was a last ditch attempt to keep him alive.

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<v Speaker 1>He had already had seven cases of septic shock, and

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<v Speaker 1>so it was either watch him die or do something

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<v Speaker 1>drastic on my own and I decided to try to

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<v Speaker 1>save his life. Professor Strafty didn't set out to become

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<v Speaker 1>an expert in phage therapy. In fact, she devoted decades

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<v Speaker 1>focusing on the HIV epidemic that got derailed somewhat into

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<v Speaker 1>In sixteen, my husband and I were on vacation in

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<v Speaker 1>Egypt and he acquired what looked like to be a

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<v Speaker 1>stomach bug, but he got violently ill. He was eventually

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<v Speaker 1>met a back to Germany and then back home to

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<v Speaker 1>UC San Diego, where our doctor friends were caring for him,

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<v Speaker 1>and it turned out that he had a gall stone

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<v Speaker 1>that caused a giant abscess in his abdomen, and inside

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<v Speaker 1>that abscess lurked a superbug. The infection was caused by

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<v Speaker 1>a bacterium called a senator. Back to Baumannii, it possessed

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<v Speaker 1>so many drug resistance genes that it was untreatable. Professor

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<v Speaker 1>Stratti says she stopped counting the number of antibodics was given.

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<v Speaker 1>His infection was resistant to fifteen antibiotics right off the bat,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was only partially sensitive to three, and in

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<v Speaker 1>the few weeks that it took to um get him

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<v Speaker 1>back home to San Diego, it acquired resistance to those

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<v Speaker 1>last three antibiotics, including Calliston and mirror pennum, and those

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<v Speaker 1>are considered last resort antibiotics. The bacteria is nicknamed Araqua

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<v Speaker 1>BacT because of the veterans you have returned from the

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<v Speaker 1>Middle East with the infection. This is an organism I

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<v Speaker 1>used to play on my petri dishes back in the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties at the University of Toronto, and it was

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<v Speaker 1>considered a pretty wimpy organism back then. But it's acquired

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<v Speaker 1>superpowers at the bacterial level because it's almost like a kleptomaniac.

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<v Speaker 1>It steals antibiotic resistance genes from other bacteria, and when

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<v Speaker 1>we're throwing antibiotics at an infection, this one is resistant

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<v Speaker 1>and it's just rubbing its hands together saying, okay, you

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<v Speaker 1>got rid of my competition. Now I can move in

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<v Speaker 1>for the kill and a head Professors straths husband Tom

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<v Speaker 1>firmly in its clutches. He was possibly ours away from death.

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<v Speaker 1>His doctors had given us the talk. They said, basically,

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<v Speaker 1>there's nothing else that we can do. This organism is

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<v Speaker 1>resistant to all antibiotics. Desperate, Professor Strathty clung to something

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<v Speaker 1>she recalled from her undergrad days back in Canada. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I have a very old degree in microbiology from the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties, and I had learned in my classes that

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<v Speaker 1>pages are viruses that have naturally evolved to attack bacteria,

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<v Speaker 1>and you can see how they work in a petri dish,

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<v Speaker 1>even though you can't visualize them with your naked eye

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<v Speaker 1>or even with a light microscope. But what I didn't

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<v Speaker 1>know is that pages had been used over a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>years ago to treat people with bacterial infections quite successfully.

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<v Speaker 1>For a time, Professor Strathty worked with scientists in Texas

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<v Speaker 1>and the US military to acquire cocktails of pages that

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<v Speaker 1>matched the bacteria poisoning her husband. Meantime, she worked with

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<v Speaker 1>his doctors and the Food and Drug Administration to gain

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<v Speaker 1>approval to use them on compassionate grounds. The first batch

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<v Speaker 1>arrived from Texas A and M University, and we inserted

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<v Speaker 1>those into the tubes or catheters in his abdomen because

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<v Speaker 1>that was closest to his infection, and we just hoped

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<v Speaker 1>that nothing would happen, because you know, we were worried

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<v Speaker 1>that he could die of septic shock because essentially we

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<v Speaker 1>were injecting a billion viruses into his body and he

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<v Speaker 1>remained stable. So two days later we had phages arrived

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<v Speaker 1>from the Navy, and those pages were considered to be

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<v Speaker 1>more virulent. We injected those pages into his body, a

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<v Speaker 1>billion pages per dose, and that was when he really

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<v Speaker 1>started turning around. While it's impossible to prove that it

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<v Speaker 1>was phage therapy that saved Tom's life, what happened next

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<v Speaker 1>was dramatic. A couple of days after we began intervene

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<v Speaker 1>his phage therapy, he lifted his head off the pillow

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<v Speaker 1>and kissed his daughter's hand, and everybody in the icy

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<v Speaker 1>freaked out, including myself. Doctors observed something very cool in

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<v Speaker 1>Tom's case. The bacteria had to make a genetic decision.

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<v Speaker 1>It could either face the phage or it could face

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<v Speaker 1>anti bio artic and it decided to face the antibiotic,

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<v Speaker 1>so it actually modified itself to become susceptible to antibiotics. Again,

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<v Speaker 1>this synergy between phages and antibiotics has occurred in other patients.

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<v Speaker 1>After phage therapy, their superbug was no longer immune to antibiotics,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's opened up a way of resurrecting failing antibiotic regimens.

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<v Speaker 1>If we can take advantage of the fact that features

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<v Speaker 1>can put selective pressure iron bacteria to make them susceptible

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<v Speaker 1>to some antibiotics. Again, then that would be a really

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<v Speaker 1>important advance. Even if it saves just a couple, that

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<v Speaker 1>could be a very important turning point in this whole

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<v Speaker 1>global crisis that we're facing. In the case of Joel Grimwood,

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<v Speaker 1>whose chest was being slowly consumed by bacterial slime, pages

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<v Speaker 1>are credited with doing something else as equally cool. After

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<v Speaker 1>a four week course of intravenous phage therapy in combination

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<v Speaker 1>with antibiotics, swabs of his open wounds came back negative.

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<v Speaker 1>For staff, it was like it ate the bacteria and

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<v Speaker 1>then when all the bacteria was gone, it just went away.

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<v Speaker 1>It just died. But once I started taking the phage,

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<v Speaker 1>there was a marked improvement in my energy level and

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<v Speaker 1>how I felt. I'd say within a week I started

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<v Speaker 1>to notice differences. Importantly. After four years, some forty surgeries

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<v Speaker 1>and a multitude of medical treatments, he was finally eligible

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<v Speaker 1>for heart transplant surgery. Doctors chalked up his surprising turnaround

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<v Speaker 1>to phage therapy. They qualified me for the transplant, and

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<v Speaker 1>in two weeks I got a heart. Joel Grimwood and

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<v Speaker 1>Tom Patterson epitomized the dramatic results that have revived interest

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<v Speaker 1>in phage therapy to counter untreatable infections. But the basic

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<v Speaker 1>research required to find and developed phage based products that's

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<v Speaker 1>off and frustrating and well sometimes downright gross work. It

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<v Speaker 1>involves getting up close and personal with some large sources

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<v Speaker 1>of bacteria. What we can see here are some really healthy,

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<v Speaker 1>lovely picks. I think they're I think they've lost our

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<v Speaker 1>old spots. This one with the spots. That's Martha Clokey.

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<v Speaker 1>She's a micro biologist who runs a research lab and

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<v Speaker 1>teaches at the University of Leicester, roughly a hundred miles

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<v Speaker 1>north of London. She's responsible for some key phage findings

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<v Speaker 1>that promised to not only improve food safety, but to

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<v Speaker 1>rest a major killer of hospital patients. On an overcast

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<v Speaker 1>summer's day, Professor Clokey is at a farm in East Lake,

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<v Speaker 1>wearing a dark blue cotton dress and looking at a

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<v Speaker 1>pig pen with about a half a dozen animals in it.

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<v Speaker 1>The swine are huge, one bore probably waist close to

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred pounds. But Professor Cloaky isn't here to just

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<v Speaker 1>visit a farm she's hunting pages. It's not what's in

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<v Speaker 1>the pigs that interests her, it's what's beneath them. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a microbial treasure trove comprising soil and pig excrement. We

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<v Speaker 1>get virus like Fluvola eight bacteria of their own viruses

0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.520
<v Speaker 1>known as pages. So that's what all our works about,

0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.840
<v Speaker 1>is trying to find these very specific bacterial viruses that

0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.200
<v Speaker 1>we can then used to treat diseases and animals and humans.

0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.760
<v Speaker 1>A quarter of a teaspoon of this smelly stuff will

0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:39.920
<v Speaker 1>harbor tens of billions of bacteria and hundreds of billions

0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.920
<v Speaker 1>of pages, which is why farm soils are fertile ground

0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:48.720
<v Speaker 1>for Professor Cloak. So it's a wonderful, natural, lovely microbial

0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.600
<v Speaker 1>soupt of bacteria feeding on the on the soil, playing

0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.880
<v Speaker 1>all different roles, living off the nutrients, some of which

0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.240
<v Speaker 1>are provided by the animals, which is why we often

0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:04.320
<v Speaker 1>findvirus is a target different bacteria the animals carry. So

0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.640
<v Speaker 1>it's in order to find good features, we start off

0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.400
<v Speaker 1>with a source of healthy animals and we search through

0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.280
<v Speaker 1>the soils and feces associated with them, such as this

0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.720
<v Speaker 1>sample here. It's immaterial like this that Professor Cloaking and

0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.320
<v Speaker 1>colleagues made an important discovery back in the lab a

0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.680
<v Speaker 1>jumbo phage that can be added to pig feed to

0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:29.880
<v Speaker 1>selectively weed out salmonella from animals digestive tracks. The hope

0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.520
<v Speaker 1>is that removing salmonella from its source in animals will

0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.640
<v Speaker 1>safeguard food, and doing so will avoid the huge waste

0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:42.800
<v Speaker 1>associated with dumping food in response to contamination and product recalls,

0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.880
<v Speaker 1>and all of that will reduce the use of antibiotics,

0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.960
<v Speaker 1>both in animals and people, which fosters Drug resistance features

0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.320
<v Speaker 1>are an obvious thing where that you could potentially use

0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.440
<v Speaker 1>to manipulate the microbiome of an animal to remove pathogens

0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:02.360
<v Speaker 1>or to promote a more health cut microbiome. In a

0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.600
<v Speaker 1>similar way, Professor Clokey is hoping to rid hospital patients

0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:11.560
<v Speaker 1>of a major bacterial killer. Clostridioidies difficil or seed IF,

0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:16.719
<v Speaker 1>causes almost half a million diarrheal illnesses and about fifteen

0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:21.840
<v Speaker 1>thousand deaths annually in the United States alone. Older hospital

0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:27.160
<v Speaker 1>patients are its prime victims. The miserable life derailing diarrheal

0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.440
<v Speaker 1>disease that seed IF causes usually comes on after friendly

0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:36.160
<v Speaker 1>intestinal bacteria have been annihilated by a course of antibiotics.

0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.320
<v Speaker 1>Among people over sixty five diagnosed with a healthcare associated

0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.440
<v Speaker 1>sea diff infection, one in eleven is dead within a month.

0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.400
<v Speaker 1>The germ is also really hard to eliminate. Once you've

0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.800
<v Speaker 1>had it, there's a one in five chance of it

0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.959
<v Speaker 1>coming back. It took Professor Cloke in her team three years,

0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.399
<v Speaker 1>tests on hundreds of stool specimens and countless hours of

0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.760
<v Speaker 1>digging our smelly black esterone soils to finally find one.

0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.200
<v Speaker 1>It was a major breakthrough to discover what appear under

0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:11.919
<v Speaker 1>an electron microscope a little bit like alien creatures. They

0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.280
<v Speaker 1>look a little bit like um somehow, like they come

0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.800
<v Speaker 1>from another world. They have these elegant synurtrical heads and

0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:23.160
<v Speaker 1>then long, sort of flowing tail fibers. They're just they

0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.280
<v Speaker 1>look a little bit like a a sort of rather

0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:32.080
<v Speaker 1>unusual insect, but with killer instincts. Those long tail fibers

0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.000
<v Speaker 1>will help the phage find and snare its prey. Once

0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.679
<v Speaker 1>the bacteria is in its grips, the page will inject

0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.280
<v Speaker 1>it's DNA into the cell, and at that point the

0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.720
<v Speaker 1>bacteria is no longer bacteria anymore. It's just a we

0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.520
<v Speaker 1>call a viral factory. It's just making viral particles. After

0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.240
<v Speaker 1>about half an hour will be about maybe fifty for

0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:57.400
<v Speaker 1>fully formed viral particles in that cell. They then release

0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.440
<v Speaker 1>different enzymes which then breakdown that on the cell or

0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.840
<v Speaker 1>which bust open and the pages will be released. Those

0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.160
<v Speaker 1>new fagures will find new cells on the whole process

0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.560
<v Speaker 1>will repeat itself over again. It's like a biodegradable smart bomb,

0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:15.680
<v Speaker 1>capable of eliminating a single bacterial target without affecting other

0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.800
<v Speaker 1>beneficial bacteria. So, at least in theory, if you can

0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.159
<v Speaker 1>get a few fags to the site of infection, you

0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.960
<v Speaker 1>then have an institution replication of that medicine to be

0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.159
<v Speaker 1>able to wipe out the infection where it's needed. You

0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.200
<v Speaker 1>can see it's very different to your sort of standard

0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:34.320
<v Speaker 1>one compound antibiotic lab Experiments with animals that mimic the

0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.919
<v Speaker 1>disease indicate the Professor cloaks phages are adept at killing

0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.800
<v Speaker 1>the main strains of seed if the patients typically contract.

0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.320
<v Speaker 1>They can also inhibit the bacteria when phages are administered

0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:51.360
<v Speaker 1>days before animals are exposed to see DIF, which suggests

0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.800
<v Speaker 1>they could potentially be given to vulnerable patients to prevent

0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.960
<v Speaker 1>the disease. Professor Cloakey is gathering the basic data needed

0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.080
<v Speaker 1>to demonstrate this safety and efficacy of her pages. She

0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.400
<v Speaker 1>says a prototype product could be ready in about five years. Meantime,

0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.560
<v Speaker 1>researchers and other countries are forging ahead with patient studies

0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.800
<v Speaker 1>aimed at identifying if and how pages could become part

0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:20.840
<v Speaker 1>of routine medical care. Ironically, in some countries they established

0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:26.639
<v Speaker 1>that niche early last century. Of US is one of

0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:30.359
<v Speaker 1>the earliest phage therapy centers is Intability and the former

0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.879
<v Speaker 1>Soviet Republic of Georgia, known as the Eliava Institute, it

0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.680
<v Speaker 1>was the hub for Soviet phage therapy research and production

0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:43.639
<v Speaker 1>and accumulated the world's largest phage library. It's supplied the

0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.000
<v Speaker 1>Red Army with thousands of treatments to prevent and treat

0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:51.080
<v Speaker 1>dysentery and wound infections during World War Two, though its

0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.960
<v Speaker 1>products weren't subjected to the kinds of randomized controlled trials

0:20:55.440 --> 0:21:00.320
<v Speaker 1>usually needed for regulatory approval. Here's Stephanie Stratti again were

0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.280
<v Speaker 1>taken up very vigorously in the former Soviet Union and

0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.320
<v Speaker 1>in parts of Eastern Europe, where they are used to

0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:10.400
<v Speaker 1>this day. Over the counter even penicillin wasn't so readily

0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.320
<v Speaker 1>available there compared within the West, where antibiotics were considered

0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:18.480
<v Speaker 1>easier to administer and store. There was also the association

0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.240
<v Speaker 1>with communism during the Cold War that deterred phage research.

0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.280
<v Speaker 1>If you were into phege therapy, were labeled to pinko kami.

0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.159
<v Speaker 1>So this geopolitical bias was a major factor that really

0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:33.960
<v Speaker 1>delayed the advances in phege therapy that we're starting to

0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.919
<v Speaker 1>recoup now. I was surprised to find out that the

0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.360
<v Speaker 1>US military was working on phage, but it turns out

0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.840
<v Speaker 1>that many different militaries, including the Belgian military, have been

0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.440
<v Speaker 1>working on phige for quite some time. Professor straphanis efforts

0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.439
<v Speaker 1>to save a husband have already drawn attention to a

0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:56.560
<v Speaker 1>largely neglected and somewhat mistrusted approach to treating infections. In

0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.119
<v Speaker 1>February of two thousand and nineteen, the couple released a

0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.480
<v Speaker 1>about their ordeal. It's called The Perfect Predator, A scientist

0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.840
<v Speaker 1>race to save a husband from a deadly superbug. They

0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:10.440
<v Speaker 1>recently sold the movie rights to a big Hollywood name.

0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.480
<v Speaker 1>My husband's case was kind of considered to be a

0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.359
<v Speaker 1>watershed moment in the strange history of phage therapy. He

0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.440
<v Speaker 1>certainly wasn't the first person to be treated with phage therapy,

0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:21.600
<v Speaker 1>but in the United States, he was the first person

0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:25.359
<v Speaker 1>to receive interveneous phage therapy to treat a systemic superbug

0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:29.239
<v Speaker 1>infection that was essentially pan resistant. And that knowledge that

0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:33.880
<v Speaker 1>interveneous phage therapy is safe and those phages, even though

0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.000
<v Speaker 1>we don't really know how they get where they need

0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:40.600
<v Speaker 1>to go, they know, and so um it's allowing many

0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.400
<v Speaker 1>other cases to be treated. In fact, we estimate forty

0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.679
<v Speaker 1>to fifty people have been treated since Tom's case. For

0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:51.240
<v Speaker 1>Joe Grimwood, phages arrived just in the nick of time,

0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.359
<v Speaker 1>a year and a half after his phage treatment that

0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.919
<v Speaker 1>preceded his heart transplant. He says he feels like a

0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.960
<v Speaker 1>different man. He has planned is now for things he

0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.400
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't have been able to do two years ago while

0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.160
<v Speaker 1>fighting off infections and waiting for a surgery that never

0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.600
<v Speaker 1>seemed was coming. I'm becoming more active. They told me

0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:14.240
<v Speaker 1>I can go swimming now, so that'll be fun. I'm

0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:18.200
<v Speaker 1>not gonna be going bar chestered on the beach. I'll

0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.760
<v Speaker 1>tell you that. How gonna have to episode a T

0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:24.280
<v Speaker 1>shirt art or something. It's it looks like I got

0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:31.440
<v Speaker 1>blown up. Ironically, he's probably alive today because of explosions,

0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:35.000
<v Speaker 1>the microscopic one's going on inside his body thanks to

0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.240
<v Speaker 1>fage therapy. You know I'd saved my life. I guess

0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:41.480
<v Speaker 1>it is a miracle in a way, and I feel

0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:43.240
<v Speaker 1>that way. I tell my friends all the time. You know,

0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:52.560
<v Speaker 1>I'm just watching the miracle unfold well. The cases of

0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.960
<v Speaker 1>Joel Grimwood and Tom Patterson point to the promise of

0:23:56.000 --> 0:24:01.199
<v Speaker 1>page therapy to find untreatable infections. They don't constitoot scientific

0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.440
<v Speaker 1>evidence that they work. The challenges to apply all the

0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:09.720
<v Speaker 1>acquired knowledge gathered over the past century to run coordinated,

0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.800
<v Speaker 1>rigorous trials to prove what, if any role phages can

0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:18.640
<v Speaker 1>play in mitigating the anti microbial resistance crisis. The clock

0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:23.360
<v Speaker 1>is ticking. It's predicted that unless something drastic happens, one

0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:27.240
<v Speaker 1>person will die every three seconds from a superbug infection.

0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.439
<v Speaker 1>By the world can't afford to wait more years to

0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:53.960
<v Speaker 1>find out where the phages can help. And that's it

0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:58.119
<v Speaker 1>for this week's prognosis. Thanks for listening. Do you have

0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:00.919
<v Speaker 1>a story about healthcare in the US or around the world.

0:25:01.520 --> 0:25:03.879
<v Speaker 1>We want to hear from you find me on Twitter

0:25:04.119 --> 0:25:07.480
<v Speaker 1>at the Cortes or send me an email m Cortes

0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:10.199
<v Speaker 1>at bloomberg dot net. If you were a fan of

0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:13.040
<v Speaker 1>this episode, please take a moment to rate and review us.

0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:16.720
<v Speaker 1>It really helps new listeners find the show and don't

0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:20.960
<v Speaker 1>forget to subscribe. This episode was produced by Ethan Brooks.

0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:25.160
<v Speaker 1>Our story editor was Rick Shine. Special thanks to John Lauerman,

0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.960
<v Speaker 1>who helped with the reporting, and Drew Armstrong, our healthcare

0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:33.240
<v Speaker 1>team leader. Francesco Leavia's head of Bloomberg Podcasts. We'll be

0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:35.680
<v Speaker 1>back next week with the new episode. See you then,