Description
The widespread presence of antimicrobial resistance and bacterial biofilm formation has dramatically increased the risk of antibiotic treatment failure. This has led to the search for alternative treatment strategies especially in complicated patient groups as immunosuppressed, polytrauma, and organ transplant patients. Reintroduction of bacteriophage therapy might be a solution in such cases. In recent years, several clinical cases have been reported where phages were successfully administered as last-minute treatment in case of antibiotic failure.. We present the current experience and treatment results of the scientific phage therapy group in Riga Stradins university. Several patients in Latvia have been treated with bacteriophages, e.g., patients with multiresistant soft tissue infections and medical device-associated infections. Bacteriophage susceptibility was performed for each strain using spot assay. Bacterial characterization of antimicrobial susceptibility, biofilm formation and other characteristics was evaluated. We compared the results with other cases of phage therapy in relevant clinical situations.. For several patients we have achieved complete bacterial eradication with phage therapy in whom biofilm-associated multiresistant bacterial infections were present. However, in some cases, relapses of infection were observed, and, in some patients, we were unable to provide phages due to lack of their lytic activity or lack of the desired lytic phage. Bacteriophage therapy was supplemented with antibiotics in case of susceptibility. The results of other clinical cases available in the SCOPUS and MEDLINE databases showed similar results.. In recent years, phage therapy has been used more widely. The main cause of using phages is the presence of bacterial multi-resistance, especially in complicated patient groups. For proper evaluation of phage therapy, randomized clinical trials are necessary.| Period | 29 Mar 2023 |
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| Event title | RSU Research Week 2023: Research Week 2023 Rīga Stradiņš University |
| Event type | Conference |
| Organiser | Riga Stradins University |
| Location | Riga, LatviaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |