Bacteriophage Therapy for Recurrent UTI: Dr. Green, Dr. Aslam and Dr. Terwilliger, Part 2

In this video, Dr. Sabrina Green, Dr. Saima Aslam and Dr. Austen Terwilliger discuss the following:
● Phage therapy can be delivered topically, intravenously, via nebulizer or instillation, depending where the infection is.
● When choosing a phage, or a cocktail combination, each is chosen for specific qualities. E.g. One might excel at degrading biofilm while another may have a high threshold to developing resistance.
● In terms of duration, harder to treat infections are treated repeatedly, rather than via a single dose, but this protocol may change as more experience and evidence is gathered.
● Though phages do replicate while there is bacteria to live on, a percentage is eradicated by the immune system which is why multiple doses are currently the norm.
● Bacteria can become resistant to phage but not in the same way as antibiotics. Sometimes, a phage-resistant mutant bacteria can be more susceptible to antibiotic treatment. Often, phage therapy and antibiotic treatment are used in tandem. In these cases, lab testing can predict the effectiveness of the phage/antibiotic combination in treating a patient’s bacterial strain.
● Phage therapy has achieved promising results in treating implant device infection. A biofilm infection can form on prosthetic joints, mesh, urinary catheters, cardiac devices etc. Antibiotics are not very effective in penetrating this type of infection whereas particular types of phage produce enzymes which break it down effectively.
● Though clinical trials would be needed, it is believed that phage therapy could be used to selectively target and change the microbiome to reduce recurrences or prevent infection.
● When undergoing phage therapy, patients typically notice an improvement in symptoms within a few days to a week.
● In cases where patients are culture negative, phage therapy can not be utilized because, without identifying the infection-causing bacteria, clinicians are unable to identify an opposing phage.
● At the moment, microbiologists are setting up vast libraries of knowledge in the hopes that a phage could be matched to a bacteria via sequencing, rather than laborious in-lab testing.
Check out the playlist for the entire interview: • Bacteriophage Therapy
Learn about Probiotics And UTI, Biofilms, And The Urinary Microbiome here: liveutifree.com/probiotics-an...
Learn more about Phage Therapy For Recurrent UTIs here: liveutifree.com/phage-therapy/
Learn about Antibiotic Resistance & How to Treat Complicated UTI from Dr. Michael Hsieh here: • Antibiotic Resistance ...
About Dr. Sabrina Green Ph.D.
Dr. Sabrina Green is a research scientist with almost a decade of training in Microbiology. She is currently the research and development director at TAILΦR, a phage service center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Her passion is bringing awareness to the world of antimicrobial resistance. Also, helping patients dealing with AMR infections.
Austen Terwilliger, Ph.D.
Dr. Terwilliger grew up on a potato farm in central Pennsylvania where he always loved being outside and observing animals and bugs alike. This passion to investigate how living things "worked" developed into a degree in molecular microbiology. His early work was in microbial pathogenesis, which led him to focus on novel antibiotic agents like phage. He now leads a great team of technicians and graduate students in developing novel phage cocktails to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
Saima Aslam, MD, MS
Dr. Aslam is a Professor of Medicine at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and is the Director of the Solid Organ Transplant Infectious Diseases service. She has been engaged in phage therapy since 2017 and is the Clinical Lead at the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) at UCSD. Dr Aslam heads a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation pilot study to develop a clinical registry of Burkholderia infected patients with CF and an associated bacteriophage library. She is also involved in studies combating multi-drug resistance, transplant-related clinical trials and the use of phage-lysin for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.
About Live UTI Free
Live UTI Free is a patient advocacy and research organization. We do not endorse specific treatment approaches, clinicians or diagnostics methods. The content of this video does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. The medical and/or nutritional information is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen. liveutifree.com/
Post-production: Melissa Wairimu / kreativlee_