A Scientific Breakthrough
Since Tom's recovery, he and I have been contacted by many people who received intravenous phage therapy as a result of his case. It is a deeply humbling experience.
But perhaps the most incredible experience to date was the recent announcement of the world's first case of a genetically engineered phage to be successfully used to treat a human superbug infection. This was necessary to convert this phage from being one that 'hits the snooze button' to one that goes on a 'phage rage', replicating inside bacterial cells before blowing them to bits.
My new friend, Isabelle, has cystic fibrosis. When she was 15 yrs old last year, she had a double lung transplant, which was hard enough to deal with but that wasn't the least of her problems. Her new lungs were being attacked by a superbug that threatened to take her life.
Isabelle's treatment was overseen by her doctors at GHOSH in London, who reached out to Dr Chip Schooley, the doctor who oversaw Tom's phage therapy (a prominent figure in The Perfect Predator). Chip convinced Isabelle's doctors and her mother that IV phage therapy was safe and would be critical to her survival. She was given <1% chance of living but it worked! Even more stunning is the fact that Isabelle's bacterial infection is in the same genus as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, lending hope that maybe someday phage therapy could be used to treat TB.
We are a long ways off from having natural phage or engineered phage become mainstream therapy, but Isabelle's case, like Tom's was an important proof of concept that has created a great deal of excitement in the world of medicine, science, pharma and biotech. Her story was all over the news this week (e.g., NPR, CNN, Science magazine, Forbes, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal).
Tom and I will be going to visit Isabelle in the UK before long, and when she friended me on Facebook she said, "When are you coming? I'll make cupcakes!" We tease each other that her superkiller phage came from a moldy eggplant, whereas Tom's came from sewage.
Tom and I are both deeply moved that his case could help Isabelle in a small way. We're now part of the same 'phage phamily', and together we hope our cases will inspire more patients.
But perhaps the most incredible experience to date was the recent announcement of the world's first case of a genetically engineered phage to be successfully used to treat a human superbug infection. This was necessary to convert this phage from being one that 'hits the snooze button' to one that goes on a 'phage rage', replicating inside bacterial cells before blowing them to bits.
My new friend, Isabelle, has cystic fibrosis. When she was 15 yrs old last year, she had a double lung transplant, which was hard enough to deal with but that wasn't the least of her problems. Her new lungs were being attacked by a superbug that threatened to take her life.
Isabelle's treatment was overseen by her doctors at GHOSH in London, who reached out to Dr Chip Schooley, the doctor who oversaw Tom's phage therapy (a prominent figure in The Perfect Predator). Chip convinced Isabelle's doctors and her mother that IV phage therapy was safe and would be critical to her survival. She was given <1% chance of living but it worked! Even more stunning is the fact that Isabelle's bacterial infection is in the same genus as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, lending hope that maybe someday phage therapy could be used to treat TB.
We are a long ways off from having natural phage or engineered phage become mainstream therapy, but Isabelle's case, like Tom's was an important proof of concept that has created a great deal of excitement in the world of medicine, science, pharma and biotech. Her story was all over the news this week (e.g., NPR, CNN, Science magazine, Forbes, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal).
Tom and I will be going to visit Isabelle in the UK before long, and when she friended me on Facebook she said, "When are you coming? I'll make cupcakes!" We tease each other that her superkiller phage came from a moldy eggplant, whereas Tom's came from sewage.
Tom and I are both deeply moved that his case could help Isabelle in a small way. We're now part of the same 'phage phamily', and together we hope our cases will inspire more patients.
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