Phages: the armageddon of infections?

There is no doubt of the urgent need for developing new antibacterials. The list of bacteria resistant to virtually all drugs is increasing nearly every month and in the XXI century patients are dying in our hospitals due to the lack of treatments for infections. No surprisingly, WHO announced in 2009 that “Antibiotic resistance is one of the three greatest threats to human health”.  Since the drug discovery pipeline is nearly dry, alternative antimicrobial approaches have been proposed, including the use of  antimicrobial peptides, the manipulation of the host-pathogen interphase (followed in my lab with very promising results), and the use of bacteriophages. 

The discovery of bacteriophages, obligate predators of bacteria, is attributed to Twort and d’Herelle in the early 20th century. The therapeutic potential of phages was recognized soon thereafter and applied for several decades before the discovery and widespread adoption of antibiotic. However, there has been a renewed interest into bacteriophage therapy due to the increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotics resistance: when enough is enough!

There is a general concern on the spread of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The scientific community is well aware of the problem already since the isolation of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin (MRSA) in the late 1990s. The list of bacteria resistant to virtually all drugs is increasing nearly every month and the top ten killers superburgs include Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Clostridium, Mycobacterium, Enterococcus and Klebsiella. The general public is also aware of the increasing isolation of multidrug resistant bacteria since it makes often headlines at the news. However, I should say that their awareness is not enough. Public and mass media maybe missing the big picture: in the XXI century patients are dying in our hospitals due to the lack of treatments for infections.

A new kid on the block

I guess that most of you know that the name of the blog, cést les microbes, is one of the quotes of the famous French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, the father of Microbiology. It took me a while to decide it. But at the end, one should go back to the clasiscs. The name stands alone and actually suggests what you will find here: posts about Microbiology considered in a broad sense. I will comment on antibiotics, infection biology, innate immunity, viruses,...pretty much my research interests.

I strongly believe that one of my duties as a scientist is to disseminate my knowledge to the public. So actually this a key point of this blog: I am an active scientist and not a journalist who write about science. Therefore, in this blog you will find expert posts written in layman terms but always accurate and avoiding sensacionalism. Further, the posts will not be a summary of recent papers but instead will reflect my view on the topic aiming to generate feedback (discusion) from your side. So please leave always a comment!!