How Sewage Saved My Husband's Life from a Superbug | Steffanie Strathdee | TEDxNashville

Tom Patterson was dying from a superbug infection and all antibiotics had failed. Find out how his wife, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, saved his life from the terrible antibiotic-resistant infection by utilizing
bacteriophages, viruses found in sewage. This gut wrenching story is one of undying love and perseverance, and a forgotten, seemingly miraculous cure hat may help overturn the global antimicrobial resistance crisis. You don't want to miss Steffanie's TEDxNashville talk. Watch this video now to hear her tell their story.
Dr. Strathdee is an infectious disease epidemiologist who received her
doctoral training at the University of Toronto. She is renowned for her
research on the intersection of HIV and drug use, having generated 500 scholarly publications. She is Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences and Harold Simon Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego where she directs a campus-wide Global Health Institute.She is married to Thomas L. Patterson, Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego, where they co-direct a research and training program on the Mexico-US border. Strathdee was recently credited with saving her husband's life from a deadly superbug infection using bacteriophages -viruses that attack
bacteria. The case, which involved cooperation from three universities, the U.S. Navy and researchers across the globe, shows how phage therapy is a future weapon against multi-drug resistant bacterial infections which are expected to kill 10 million people per year by 2050.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@brianpeterson332]

I have taught nursing students, and only one had ever heard of this therapy: a student from Russia. He was FLOORED when he discovered how behind we were in this area. I told the class then (6 years or so ago) that with any luck, they would be administering phages in their professional lives. Phages are cheap and easy to work with.

[@codysmith605]

cheap and effective is a big reason phage therapy is undeveloped in the west.

[@gina5565]

This lady deserves Wife of the Century award.

[@danielnatter5982]

Exactly 💯 . One of a kind especially these days. I can dream though. Can't I ?? 😢

[@danielhuelgas5355]

it has passed almost 5 years from the very first phage therapy for Tom. What a story!! It has inspired and motivated me to explore this field of phage biology and phage therapy. My dream is that one day, phage therapy could be avaliable for latin american people suferring from a MDR bacterial infection in a low cost. Best Regards!!

[@Kindness808]

I just heard about her work on an article from CNN today. I found myself unexpectedly moved to tears. Such a great story about science, medicine, and humanity. I hope there will be a turn of events like this one in the fight against dementia. This story gives me hope that there will be.

[@danielnatter5982]

I like that name you chose....... Kindness808

[@junelqy]

I sincerely hope this sets the stage for the urgent medical and microbiological research we all need so desperately in phage therapy in the western world.

[@warzonemoments3970]

Won't happen. They can't patent this so will never be looked into

[@KateSmith-h2f]

Pharma will never let this happen. If you want health and healing you have to leave. You want maintained health and healing? Avoid MDs like the ill educated plague that they are. If you were walking down the street and got stabbed you wouldn’t then turn around and ask your attacker to take you to the hospital to save your life. MDs are taught to keep you I’ll for profit. They’re the attackers. You have to leave them behind.

[@patriciaperkins4252]

This is a great where Love and Science Meet. Thanks Steffanie for both your honesty and leadership!

[@MegF142857]

WOW! That's an amazing story of determination, science teamwork, and love.

[@TheRakugan]

Thank you for a great story! I've read Dr Strathdee's book, and it was amazing. But seeing her and her husband alive and happy is much, much more.

[@DrBrianKeating]

a life changing love story told through the lens of science...a miracle indeed.

[@notthere83]

So many more people need to know about this! It's not even that expensive. Depending on what specific infection one has and where one lives, flying to Georgia and getting the treatment done is maybe 5000-10000$ overall. Not that much to save one's life or get rid of debilitating pain (which in turn can also lead to death - by suicide). Of course, it still might not actually work but... when one is about to exit this existence, one might as well give it a last shot with something that at least sometimes works and isn't just pure placebo effect like most alternative therapies. Because when multiple organs have failed... to argue that "Maybe the phages didn't play a role and he would have recovered anyway" - yeah right...

[@pacificmarinecharterssaili8506]

This is AWESOME. One woman's dedication and determination to save her husbands life and now it will potentially save thousands.

[@CurtisHoffmann]

The future of medicine. Thank you for your wonderful presentation!

[@PolarProphet]

Amazing and shockingly transforming presentation

[@gaius_enceladus]

Great stuff! Great to see phage therapy getting the attention that it deserves!

[@thepalebluedot4171]

This needs to be made into a medical genre movie.

[@GeeTrieste]

Oh yes, this is so true, it has all the elements of a great story and movie. I am thinking of Lorenzo's Oil as an example. Independent pioneers literally fighting in the trenches against time, and coming out victorious.

[@SayWhatCom]

A great story of risking it all. congrats!

[@718aviva]

OMG... TY and thank u a zillion for sharing your story....G-d bless your family with many many years of robust health

[@celtgunn9775]

Best Tedx I've seen 😍

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

wow, thanks!!!!

[@LicMairi]

@@steffaniestrathdee6428 Hello Dr. Stradthdee. Do you have a publication/report about this? (searched pubmed but couldn´t find) because I´d like to cite your amazing story in a seminar. Thank you and have a nice day!

[@Eismee]

I'm actually investing my time into a kind of science experiments with phage therapy, finding this talk is just amazing.

[@paulrasmussen4656]

Id like to say what an inspiration use are to the world and i hope we can stop the spread of resistance in bacteria, God bless the 2 of you for more years

[@river8760]

Tom is such a superstar to make it through that! Steffanie is awesome, 👏

[@GlennSteffy]

Hope to see more of this !!

[@jetsetter8541]

Phage therapy was invented by Canadian but developed & applied in orthodox medicine in Ukraine , (Kiev ?) There is the clinic where all resistant infections patients come from all over the world. Another applied scientific research in Ukraine is the stem cell therapy , I am not sure it also might be in Kiev.

[@SusannaRichards]

This was an inspiring example of innovation born of necessity. Thanks to their expertise and network, these physicians are likely the only couple who could have survived this assault and accomplished these accelerated breakthroughs. However, their harrowing experience will now benefit inumerable patients going forward.

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

Actually, I am not a physician....and almost everyone who helped in the phage hunt were total strangers...

[@SusannaRichards]

I was in the audience and truly found your story so inspiring and suspenseful. It would make an awesome non fiction book/movie... Seriously! Very best wishes to your family!

[@Tenajeh]

Bacteriophages are heckin fascinating! I really hope, they get bigger roles in medicine all over the world soon.

[@praetorianluxuries9042]

My father has acinetobacter baumanni bacteria, pneumonia, we are from Mexico, my father is almost death, he is in coma, almost the same story as Tom, can somebody help us please. We are in Mexico, we cant travel, but we can give all our resources if some phage expert can come and save his life

[@andrew15626]

Maybe you should look into Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia

[@TheCerebralOne]

Incredible story

[@JoseGonzalez-dp5gh]

If bacteriophages are use in Eastern Europe and Russia, why didn't she try to get in contact with people from those countries ? As they have about 80 years of experience using phages.

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

I did actually, but you have to fly there for phage therapy and my husband was near death. One of the researchers from Tblisi gave advice on how to administer the phages. It was a global effort.

[@tomashatada9320]

@@steffaniestrathdee6428 We hope that your huge effort to save your husband will open more doors in the US to allow more research on phage to develop therapies and new medicines. It's going to take time but human ingenuity will prevail. Thanks!

[@Thatsciencedude324]

I love how Phage Therapy got the attention it needed. Something this important being ignored for years has happened before like the commercialization of Penicillin and hopefully, phage therapy can reach Commercialization as well.

[@codysmith605]

It is very telling how this type of treatment is ignored in the west it is cheap and effective anyone seeking this treatment would be wise to travel to russia as they have the most advanced phage treatments.

[@Thatsciencedude324]

@codysmith605 is it proven to work in Russia? All I've heard about their efficiency is they're very hard and expensive since the phage is super specific

[@dasilvajeronimo9152]

In other words -> the power of love..

[@danielnatter5982]

She said SHE'D LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED!! i want to meet a woman that's loyal and loving like Stephanie.AND ILL LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED 😊

[@Akira-nw4jl]

my understanding is that since a Pharma company can't patent a living organism and there is too much to invest and no profits to be made no Pharma will invest in this. So the FDA can't approve it. if this is true then phage therapy should be done outside the USA where there are less restrictions, but near enough that many Americans can travel so as to be treated. perhaps build a phage therapy facility in Mexico or Canada.

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

It is possible to patent phages that have been altered by genetic engineering and several have been patented already. Also, when administered together, phages and antibiotics can work synergistically, which means phage therapy has the potential to make failing antibiotics work better. We just opened the first phage therapy center in North America at UCSD so people dont have to go to other countries to get it.

[@Akira-nw4jl]

steffanie strathdee I am honored by your reply. but you see my point, bacteriophages were discovered before penicillin but were abandoned in the USA and Britain many years ago. how many people could have been saved? and only now the only is the 1st phage therapy center being opened and in California. I am glad, but to many people in farther states its almost impossible to reach. You did for your husband what no doctor was able to do, and you saved him. I guess we must greatly rely on ourselves to find cures and not just accept what many doctors tell us. thanks and God bless. l

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

@@Akira-nw4jl , we are only based in California but our center is helping people all over the world. We hope more centers will open as there are certainly no shortage of patients.

[@JohnAnyam]

@@steffaniestrathdee6428 I have watched this video over and over again. Do you also offer training at your phage therapy center and if so how could I enrol?

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

@@JohnAnyam Thanks for your feedback! At this point we can barely keep up with the patient requests we are getting but hope to have a formal training program someday. We do have limited training experiences for MDs doing an infectious disease residency placement who are matched to UCSD.

[@fuzzyscarfandmittens4772]

This is an absolutely fascinating story not only for what they did but bringing phage therapy out into the open and getting people to talk about it. Of course there's the dark side of this as well meaning that once the bacteriophage has wiped out the infection is there a change it can mutate and start attacking the host cells. So there really needs to be a lot more research done on this subject.

[@haleysmith7204]

Absolutely love this.

[@bigben046]

I'm glad the husband is okay but FDA wouldn't approve that for people like me and others.

[@danielnatter5982]

For what though??

[@chriswilliams6568]

I read the story in People magazine. I hope the research continues as it offers hope to us all. This couple must have tons of money though as they took a private jet from Frankfurt to San Diego, so maybe that is why the FDA reacted quickly to approve the treatment. Otherwise this organizations move like molasses. Good luck to them both.

[@williamseney5647]

According to their book it was travel insurance through the university where they worked.

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

No, we just had travel insurance. We didn't have to pay a cent until we got him back to the US. There, we thankfully had very good health insurance.

[@harotaro1067]

Travel insurance when going for holiday. Next time get one before you travel oversea. It might help you.

[@raveena82]

first of all i am glad that your hubby has make it and wow what a story now i know its a dangerous thing my doctor tells me you can become verry ill but i know that i was verry ill and be in coma now i know it is from the bacteria

[@EnderFive5]

Damn I cried

[@lillietree]

Wonderful news

[@tuncaysimsek8210]

An awesome flashback in medical history... Is the future behind now?

[@graemelaubach3106]

Man.... my feels.

[@NMW80]

I too need phages please can someone tell me how I contact her and her hubby?i have a very very weak immunity and need phages asap as I am getting worse by the day.great video and what an awesome lady doing that for her hubby.god bless you guys.

[@440civil]

Yes

[@2listening1]

Can this help Cystic fibrosis patients with resistant bacteria???

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

yes, many CF pts have been treated successfully, incl one at UCSD. We hope to launch a trial soon involving CF pts to establish whether phage therapy can work on a larger scale

[@2listening1]

actually, I can't find the place to message you on that channel, lol.

[@marilynstclair1310]

i like to know about this launch...how do i get a hold of you ?

[@marilynstclair1310]

go to youtube type in Patrick Wight phage therapy

[@2listening1]

Can I get contact information about the trial and the published results? Can I talk to the people running the trial? Thank you.

[@raihanulIslamrana]

Those bacteria actually came from another planet

[@danielnatter5982]

Looking for a loyal, loving wife like this

[@patogden856]

Go veggie !!!!

[@john4385]

With water uncontaminated.

[@davidronson8712]

If these people were not connected the man would have died.

[@tomjones8608]

9 thumbs down from big pharma

[@TJDASHDASH]

Great story, but she can't be much of a infectious disease epidemiologist if she didn't know about bacteriophages. In countries like Georgia it's usage is common.

[@steffaniestrathdee6428]

I did know about phages beforehand, I just didn't know about phage therapy until I did my own research. Most Western docs still aren't aware. We are trying to change that and jump start more research. If there is a stronger evidence base, it might become a more widely available treatment.

[@TJDASHDASH]

Thank you for the reply. It was unexpected and educational. Rereading my comment I realised that in my haste I may have come across as arrogant and personal. I had intended it to be a general comment, so please let me offer my apologies. I hope I didn't cause offense. It's important to me to be fair. I do hope the continued research in this area continues.

[@garypylant3299]

I have a new Antibiotic ... PilotsResortAndIceCreamFactory ...

[@lostinthecityofbooks6711]

Is this an American thing to bring antibiotics on holidays?

[@amaziing22]

Wash wash your hands all the way around make them clean make them shiny 😁