Problems
Problems associated with bacteriophage therapy
1. Because of the high specificity of phages, the disease-causing bacterium has to be identified before the administration of phage therapy. One phage kills only a specific subgroup of bacteria. One species of bacteria may contain many subgroups. But one antibiotic may kill many different species and subgroups of bacteria simultaneously.
So a physician would need to make a specific diagnosis before prescribing a phage treatment.
2. Absences of bacteriophage action efficacy in certain cases were reported. It may be due to insufficient diagnostics and incorrect choice of the method for implementation of a specific phage.
3. The gastric acidity should be neutralized prior to oral phage administration.
4. Bacteriophage with a lytic lifecycle within a well-defined in vitro environment does not ensure that the bacteriophage will always remain lytic under normal physiological conditions found in a body. It may change to adapt lysogenic cycle in some circumstances.
5. Bacteriophages are viruses and, in general, viruses tend to swap genes with each other and other organisms with which they come into contact. So there is a chance of spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
6. Many doctors are scared to give live bacteriophage to the patients.
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