Phage Therapy, a Salvage Treatment for Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Causing Infective Endocarditis

Abstract

Infective endocarditis (IE) is defined as an infection of the endocardium, or inner surface of the heart, most frequently affecting the heart valves or implanted cardiac devices. Despite its rarity, it has a high rate of morbidity and mortality. IE generally occurs when bacteria, fungi, or other germs from another part of the body, such as the mouth, spread through the bloodstream and attach to damaged areas in the heart. The epidemiology of IE has changed as a consequence of aging and the usage of implantable cardiac devices and heart valves. The right therapeutic routes must be assessed to lower complication and fatality rates, so this requires early clinical suspicion and a fast diagnosis. It is urgently necessary to create new and efficient medicines to combat multidrug-resistant bacterial (MDR) infections because of the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance on a worldwide scale. MDR bacteria that cause IE can be treated using phages rather than antibiotics to combat MDR bacterial strains. This review will illustrate how phage therapy began and how it is considered a powerful potential candidate for the treatment of MDR bacteria that cause IE. Furthermore, it gives a brief about all reported clinical trials that demonstrated the promising effect of phage therapy in combating resistant bacterial strains that cause IE and how it will become a hope in future medicine.

Practical approaches to antimicrobial therapy for infective endocarditis in the context of national and European clinical guidelines

“…Наиболее необычным, но имеющим хорошие перспективы может оказаться в/в применение бактериофагов или лизинов фагового происхождения в комбинации с антибактериальными препаратами, однако исследования на данный момент преимущественно носят характер экспериментальных или единичных клинических наблюдений [38]. Необходимо большее количество более масштабных исследований.…”

Exploring the Bacteriophage Frontier: A Bibliometric Analysis of Clinical Trials Between 1965 and 2024

“…Bacteriophages have been explored for their potential therapeutic applications, particularly in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The concept of phage therapy, which involves using bacteriophages to target and eliminate bacterial infections, has experienced a resurgence of interest as an alternative or complement to traditional antibiotic treatments [17].…”

Advancements in inhibitors of crucial enzymes in the cysteine biosynthetic pathway: Serine acetyltransferase and O‐acetylserine sulfhydrylase

“…Antibiotics are chemical substances that can kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria, either by interfering with their cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, nucleic acid synthesis, or metabolic pathways (Dai et al, 2023;Uluseker et al, 2021). Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections, saving millions of lives and reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with various diseases, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis (Aslam et al, 2021;Hetta et al, 2023;Sulis et al, 2023). However, the widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics has led to the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Singh et al, 2021).…”