Phage Therapy in the Year 2035

The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria in both community- and hospital-acquired infections is recognized as a major public health threat. Phage therapy is increasingly mediatized and researched as an additional tool for combatting antibiotic resistant infections. However, phages exhibit a num...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jean-Paul Pirnay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Microbiology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01171/full
Description
Summary:The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria in both community- and hospital-acquired infections is recognized as a major public health threat. Phage therapy is increasingly mediatized and researched as an additional tool for combatting antibiotic resistant infections. However, phages exhibit a number of properties that differ from antibiotics and hamper their development as pharmaceutical products and their application in therapy. This paper advocates a paradigm shift in the development and application of infectious disease therapeutics to cater for personalized phage therapy, which could be realized by the year 2035. More specifically, it presents a sustainable and ethical supply chain of instant synthetic phages, based on a community effort, supported and steered by public health organizations, and managed by a platform combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Distributed Ledger (DL) Technology.
ISSN:1664-302X