FW: Mycoplasma Registry Reports- Where antibiotics fail, bacteria-munching viruses can take over

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From: mycoreg@...

Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:23:27 +0000

Subject: Mycoplasma Registry Reports- Where antibiotics fail, bacteria-munching

viruses can take over

viruses known as bacteriophages—literally " bacteria-eaters " that

happily slaughter their far-bigger foes...(including mycoplasmas)

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MYCOPLASMA REGISTRY REPORTS

for gulf war syndrome & chronic fatigue syndrome

© 2008 Dudley & Leslee Dudley. All rights reserved.

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Bacteria-munching viruses battle germs

Where antibiotics fail,they take over

By ROBERT S. BOYD, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Detroit Free Press - United States - January 13, 2008

<http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20080113/NEWS07/801130659/1009>

WASHINGTON -- Silently and invisibly, vast miniature armies are

waging a fight to the death on land and sea.

The defenders are bacteria, one-celled microbes that infest every

cranny on Earth, from the seafloor to garden soil to the human gut.

The aggressors are a class of viruses known as bacteriophages —

literally " bacteria-eaters " -- that happily slaughter their far-

bigger foes.

" Every two days, half the bacteria on Earth are killed " by

bacteriophages, said Fischetti, head of the Laboratory of

Bacterial Pathogenesis at Rockefeller University in New York.

Scientists say people should be rooting for the phages, as they're

known for short.

Since these tiny viruses are harmless to humans, they can be enlisted

in the fight against disease-causing germs and perform other useful

functions.

Despite the bacteria's horrific losses to the phages, the war between

them rages on. Many bacteria divide every 20 minutes, so they can

reproduce their population as rapidly as they're slain.

The numbers are staggering. Biologists estimate that the world

contains a thousand billion billion billion -- that's a 1 followed by

30 zeroes — bacteria. And phages outnumber bacteria 10 to 1.

They're " not only the most abundant biological entities, but probably

also the most diverse ones, " Markus Weinbauer, a microbiologist at

the Laboratoire d'Oceanographie in Villefranche, France, wrote in a

newly published book, " Bacteriophage: Genetics and Molecular Biology. "

One way these ruthless killers earn their combat medals is by chewing

up bacteria, such as the deadly Staphylococcus aureus, that resist

most antibiotic drugs.

" Antibiotic resistance is a nightmare for infectious-disease

specialists, who increasingly have to stand by and watch helplessly

as bacteria dupe the drugs aimed at them, and people die because no

drugs work, " said Hausler, the Swiss author of another recent

book about phages, " Virus vs. SuperBugs. "

As an example of their utility, the Food and Drug Administration last

year approved the use of phages on ready-to-eat meats to kill

bacteria.

Phages also are being used to treat open sores caused by diabetes and

warriors with wounds that resist antibiotics, according to Dr.

Randall Wolcott, head of the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center in

Lubbock,Texas.

" I have been using bacteriophages in the management of chronic wounds

for several years now, " he said.

" Numerous companies are vying for an opportunity to sell phage

therapeutics to a willing public, " said Abedon, a researcher

at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Viruses are the most numerous biological creations on Earth.

They come in many shapes and sizes besides phages. And many of them

are responsible for infectious diseases from the common cold to AIDS.

But scientists disagree on whether viruses are alive, since they

can't reproduce on their own, having to hijack the genetic machinery

of living cells. Phages use bacteria as factories to manufacture more

of themselves.

When a phage bumps into a bacterium, it latches on to its surface and

penetrates the cell wall.

Once inside, the phage takes control of the bacterium's DNA to make

hundreds of copies of itself. The bacterium soon dies, releasing a

horde of baby viruses to find new victims.

In this way, phages kill bacteria without the use of antibiotic drugs.

A French scientist, Felix d'Herelle, first realized phages'

therapeutic potential during World War I.

He reasoned that since phages devour bacteria, and bacteria cause

disease, they might be harnessed to fight infections.

Phages continued to be used in Russia and Eastern Europe, but

interest faded in the West after penicillin and other antibiotics

were discovered.

" Phage research in more recent years has revealed not only their

abundance and diversity of form, but also their dramatic impact on

the ecology of our planet, their influence on the evolution of

microbial populations, and their potential applications, " wrote

Olivia McAuliffe, a microbiologist at University College Cork,

Ireland.

Copyright ©2008 the Detroit Free Press. All rights reserved.

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