Viral cocktail: new in the treatment of cholera
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists have successfully tested a beverage containing three viruses in their composition, on sick animals cholera. Details about the experiment can be found from the pages of the scientific publication Nature Communication.
Phagotherapy has been known for several years, and is considered a very promising direction. The latest research of scientists was aimed at studying the possibility of bacteriophage viruses to prevent and stop the spread of intestinal infectious pathologies.
The project's organizer, Professor Andrew Camilli, representing the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, believes that bacteriophages can stop the pandemic spread of cholera someday : this disease affects almost 4 million people annually, mainly from underdeveloped countries. Cholera causes severe dehydration in the patient, which can quickly lead to death.
A little earlier, scientists were already studying this problem. Their goal was to search for bacteriophages that could selectively attack the cholera vibrio. As was discovered, in the natural environment, the causative agent of cholera has a huge number of natural enemies.
Scientists have isolated viruses that have the ability to kill cholera vibrio in the human intestinal cavity. Three varieties of the virus enveloped the surface receptors of the microbial structure, got inside the pathogen and damaged the cell from the inside.
In the course of the experiment, the specialists gave the rodents different volumes of a cocktail containing the necessary viruses, a few hours after the introduction of a standard dose of cholera vibrio to the animals . As a result, more than 50% of rodents cocktail prevented the development of the disease - provided that the drink was consumed in the first three hours after infection.
If the drink was taken a day after infection, the microbial load decreased by about 500 times, compared with the controlled group. It was found that the maximum effectiveness of the cocktail was manifested during the initial 12 hours after infection.
In addition, it was observed that in the rodents who had suffered the cholera, against the background of the reception of bacteriophages there were no signs of critical dehydration: the disease was relatively easy compared to those who did not receive such treatment.
Next, scientists tested the causative agent of cholera for resistance to the action of a viral cocktail. Analyzes showed that in some cases the vibrio lost sensitivity to one or two viruses, but a loss of sensitivity to the three viruses was not observed in any of the cases. It is interesting that those microbes that developed resistance to viruses lost the ability to cause cholera - and, therefore, became harmless.
"Almost ten years we spent on identifying and isolating the necessary viruses, as well as being able to apply them in clinical practice. We are confident that we have received a real medicine that will win the cholera and help all people on the planet, "Professor Camilli summed up.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Pathologies, as well as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.