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"In silico"


From Wikipedia
If the target host* of a phage therapy treatment is not an animal the term "biocontrol" (as in phage-mediated biocontrol of bacteria) is usually employed, rather than "phage therapy".

In silico
From:"Genomics,Proteomics and Clinical Bacteriology",N.Woodford and Alan P.Johnson

Phrase that emphasizes the fact that many molecular biologists spend increasing amounts of their time in front of a computer screen, generating hypotheses that can subsequently be tested and (hopefully) confirmed in the laboratory.


Phage Therapy is influenced by:

Phage therapy is influenced by:

Country : the epidemiological situation is different from country to country in terms of circulating bacteria and bacteriophages. Example: lytic phages from Italy may be no active on the same bacteria (genus and species) isolated from another country and vice versa.
Temporariness
Mutation rate
Phenotypical delay
Phage cocktail

My point of view

Friday, 12 February 2010

The ESKAPE Pathogens


From Medscape Infectious Diseases

Emerging Antibiotics: Will We Have What We Need?



" * More US patients die of MRSA infections than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.
* Only 2 new antibiotics -- doripenem and telavancin -- have been approved in the past 3 years.
* We have no drugs to treat infections with some strains of multi-drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli, like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii.

We may finally have arrived at the era of the untreatable bacterial infection."

The ESKAPE ( they effectively escape the effects of antibacterial drugs)
E Enterococcus faecium Third most common cause of HCA BSI. Increasing resistance to vancomycin.
S Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Emerging resistance to current drugs and significant drug toxicities. Lack of oral agents for step-down therapy
K Klebsiella
Escherichia coli
K pneumoniae
ESBL-producing organisms increasing in frequency and severity; associated with increasing mortality. K pneumoniae carbapenemases causing severe infections in LTCF. Few active agents; nothing in development
A Acinetobacter baumannii Increasing worldwide, recent surge reported in hospitals. Very high mortality. Carbapenem-resistant.
P Pseudomonas aeruginosa Increasing P. aeruginosa infections in US and worldwide. Resistant to carbapenems, quinolones, aminoglycosides
E Enterobacter species MDR HCA infections increasing; resistance via ESBLs, carbapenemases, and cephalosporinases

HCA = healthcare associated; BSI = bloodstream infection; MRSA = methicillin resistant S aureus; ESBL = extended-spectrum beta-lactamase; LTCF = long-term care facility; MDR = multiple drug-resistant