Imagine if antibiotics weren't used to fight infection anymore.
It's a what-if scenario that one local doctor says has a solution.
Two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration began phase one clinical trials on a Lubbock doctor's proposed method of fighting infection with tiny microbes found in nature.
Dr. Randy Wolcott, owner of the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center, is the physician behind the study.
Wolcott said super viruses that are immune to antibiotics are developing in hospitals across the country, creating a need for a new medical tool to fight infection.
He had heard that some countries have successfully used bacteriophages to control infection. So he created a treatment plan that he hopes doctors in the United States will be able to use.
Described by some as "bacteria's natural predator," phages are among the simplest and most abundant organisms on Earth.
Phages reproduce by attaching themselves to a host bacteria and then injecting their genetic material into the hijacked bacteria. In the process, the infectious bacteria's particles are destroyed.
"There's an 80-year history of its use in humans," said Wolcott, who traveled to the former Soviet Union to observe how phages are used there. "It's a mainstay of medicine in Poland and Georgia (former Soviet Republic)."
Unlike antibiotics, which bacteria eventually can resist, the use of phages doesn't result in the creation of stronger viruses, according to Wolcott.
Antibiotics also can have negative side effects on a patient. Phages, Wolcott says, are safer.
"We send them in to target a very specific bacteria," Wolcott said. "Phages don't do any collateral damage."
Wolcott is seeking patients who would like to volunteer to take part in the clinical trials. For more information, contact the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center at 793-8869.
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