Actually the idea of using phage to treat infections goes back to the
pioneers of phage biology, Twort and DHerelle, the later did his
"thing" around 1917...The problem with using it centered on why it
did not work all the time. The answer did not arrive until the dawn
of molecular biology and the discovery of Host Controlled Restriciton
and Modification...where the first restiction endonuclease were
found...
>>> Daniel Larrimore <dlarrimo at indiana.edu> - 2/17/97 11:34 PM >>>
Teresa L. Choate (ntlbnklr at ix.netcom.com) wrote:
> Hello, I am a senior microbiology major at California State
University and I
> am interesting in phage research. Particularly, I would like to
know if
> anyone knows of any ongoing or past research concerning the
possible use of
> phage as treatment for bacterial infection. If anyone has
information on this
> type of research or where I could find this information, it would
be greatly
> appreciated. Also, if there is any information on why this may be
an
> inplausible idea please let me know...thank you.
>> Teresa Choate ntlbnklr at ix.netcom.comThis is a very old idea that has no practical use. Work done in the
1940s
showed that bacterial quickly become resistant to phage infection.
This
can even be demonstrated by small colonies which develop inside
plaques on
a lawn of bacteria.
Dan Larrimore
