Phage therapy: viruses to fight against antibiotic resistance?

In late 2015, American academic Tom Patterson was infected with the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii while vacationing in Egypt with his wife, epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee. This bacterium is known for its resistance to antibiotics and the infection quickly gains ground without any treatment being able to stop it. Steffanie Strathdee watches helplessly as her husband’s state of health deteriorates and he ends up in a coma. She then hears about phages, these bacteria-eating viruses, and undertakes a mad crusade with the government service responsible for pharmacovigilance in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so that her husband can benefit from a treatment. by phage therapy. In 2016, the FDA granted this emergency authorization and Tom Patterson received an injection of therapeutic phages. And there is the miracle: in just a few weeks, Patterson heals completely.