Investigators: Anthony Kicic, Daniel Laucirica, Matthew Poh, Stephanie Trend, Stephen Stick
External collaborators: A/Prof. Barbara Chang (University of Western Australia), Dr. Mark O'Dea (Murdoch University)
Antimicrobial resistance is a global health crisis, which has accelerated due to the overuse of antibiotics. It occurs when microorganisms, including bacteria, change when exposed to antimicrobial drugs and develop resistance. Consequently, medicines become ineffective against these ‘superbugs’ with infections persisting in the body, causing death and increasing the risk of spread to others.
The burden of resistance is greatest in children, who receive antibiotics more frequently than any other class of medication. Specifically, those with accompanying illnesses appear to be at most risk. One example is Cystic Fibrosis (CF) which is a genetically inherited disease caused by a mutation in the CFTR gene. Loss of its function in the lung leads to production of viscous mucus, which becomes difficult to clear. The resulting environment enables bacteria to grow which then directly causes permanent lung damage. Current therapies to eradicate these infections involve an intensive regimen of intravenous or inhaled antibiotics used, however, they have developed wide spectrum antibiotic-resistance and the only alternative currently is to treat at high doses which have significant side effects. Considering very few new antibiotics are being developed, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic treatments to solve this problem.
We propose to explore the use of bacteriophages, or “phages”, (viruses that infect specific bacterial species) as an alternative to antibiotics to treat these infections. Although used in parts of the world, it is not a standardised treatment in Australia due to lack of scientific information about their use in humans.