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Phage Therapy May Control Staph Infections in Humans Including MRSA

Researchers from Italy have identified a bacteriophage active against Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains, in mice and possibly humans. They report their findings in the August 2007 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

S. aureus is a highly flexible and potentially dangerous pathogen capable of causing skin abscesses, wound infections, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia and toxic shock syndrome. Due to the organisms ability to live inside cells, emerging strains are increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Currently, forty to sixty percent of reported nosocomial S. aureus infections in the United States and the United Kingdom are multi-drug resistant with methicillin-resistant S. aureus carrying a significantly higher mortality rate.

A bacteriophage, or phage for short, is a virus that infects bacteria. In the study researchers identified the phage, MSa, and tested its activity against S. aureus in mice. Following simultaneous inoculation with both MSa and lethal and non-lethal doses of S. aureus results showed MSa rescued ninety-seven percent of mice from death and fully cleared mice of non-lethal bacterial infections.

These results suggest a potential use of the phage for the control of both local and systemic human S. aureus infections, say the researchers.

(R. Capparelli, M. Parlato, G. Borriello, P. Salvatore, D. Iannelli. 2007. Experimental phage therapy against Staphylococcus aureus in mice. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 51. 8: 2765-2773).

New Smallpox Vaccine Candidates Demonstrate Superior Immune Response, Efficacy and Safety in Mice

The integration of an immune-enhancing protein into two new smallpox vaccine candidates elicited superior immune responses, efficacy and safety in mice say researchers from the U.S. They report t
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