Beijing, May 4 (reporter Sun Zifa) - a microbiological research paper recently published by Springer nature’s academic journal Nature communication shows that through the combination of antibiotics and surgery, phage therapy has been proved to be effective in the treatment of multi drug resistant Mycobacterium chelonae infection in patients with low immune function.

This study is the first to report the successful treatment of Mycobacterium cheloniae infection by phage therapy, and the researchers also described the observed clinical efficacy in the paper.

This paper introduces that Mycobacterium Chelonii is usually associated with skin and soft tissue infections, mainly in patients with weak immune system, but it is difficult to treat because of its pan resistance to antibiotics. Bacteriophages can infect and kill bacterial hosts, but their interaction with human immune system is very complex, so their clinical application has been limited. Phage therapy has previously been shown to be successful in the treatment of Mycobacterium abscess infection (Mycobacterium abscess is known to be pan resistant to antibiotics), but successful treatment of Mycobacterium tortoise has not been reported.

Jessica little, the corresponding author of the paper, and Jessica little of Brigham and women’s Hospital in the United States, and colleagues used a phage to treat immunocompromised patients with seronegative arthritis and clinically diagnosed with Mycobacterium Chelonii infection, combined with antibiotics and surgery. They saw a very good clinical effect in this patient. The skin lesions, inflammation and nodules decreased a few months after treatment, and there were no adverse reactions to phage therapy.

The results of this study suggest that bacteriophages may be a promising treatment for multidrug-resistant infections, the authors said. They also cautioned that further research is still needed to further understand the human immune response and the safety of phage therapy (especially considering the clinical burden caused by infection in immunocompromised patients), as well as the drug resistance of mycobacteria. (end)

Beijing, May 4 (reporter Sun Zifa) - a microbiological research paper recently published by Springer nature’s academic journal Nature communication shows that through the combination of antibiotics and surgery, phage therapy has been proved to be effective in the treatment of multi drug resistant Mycobacterium chelonae infection in patients with low immune function.

This study is the first to report the successful treatment of Mycobacterium cheloniae infection by phage therapy, and the researchers also described the observed clinical efficacy in the paper.

This paper introduces that Mycobacterium Chelonii is usually associated with skin and soft tissue infections, mainly in patients with weak immune system, but it is difficult to treat because of its pan resistance to antibiotics. Bacteriophages can infect and kill bacterial hosts, but their interaction with human immune system is very complex, so their clinical application has been limited. Phage therapy has previously been shown to be successful in the treatment of Mycobacterium abscess infection (Mycobacterium abscess is known to be pan resistant to antibiotics), but successful treatment of Mycobacterium tortoise has not been reported.

Jessica little, the corresponding author of the paper, and Jessica little of Brigham and women’s Hospital in the United States, and colleagues used a phage to treat immunocompromised patients with seronegative arthritis and clinically diagnosed with Mycobacterium Chelonii infection, combined with antibiotics and surgery. They saw a very good clinical effect in this patient. The skin lesions, inflammation and nodules decreased a few months after treatment, and there were no adverse reactions to phage therapy.

The results of this study suggest that bacteriophages may be a promising treatment for multidrug-resistant infections, the authors said. They also cautioned that further research is still needed to further understand the human immune response and the safety of phage therapy (especially considering the clinical burden caused by infection in immunocompromised patients), as well as the drug resistance of mycobacteria. (end)