North & South – June 2019

NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019| 41

Ifanyonehadthecontactstosurvivea

life-threateningsuperbuginfection,it

wasSanDiegoprofessorofpsychiatry

ThomasPatterson.Hiswife,Steffanie

Strathdee,isaninfectiousdiseaseep-

idemiologistattheUniversityofCali-

fornia,butwhenPattersoncontracted

thedeadlyantibiotic-resistantAcineto-

bacterbaumanniiona bucket-listtrip

toEgyptin2015,evensheturnedin

desperationtotheinternetforalterna-

tivetreatmentsaftermorethana dozen

antibioticscouldn’tcurehim.Thein-

fectionlefthimina comaona feeding

tubeandneardeathfromsepticshock.

Strathdeefoundreferencestoa ther-

apyinwhichbacteriophagevirusesare

usedtoinfectandkillbacteria.“It’slike

nature’sownalternativetoantibiot-

ics,” Strathdee told the Todayshow in

UC SAN DIEGO

theUS.“Youhavea miniatureGodzil-

la,thebacteria,andwe’resendingina

miniatureKingKongtoattackit.”The

treatmentismainstreaminpartsofthe

formerSovietUnionandPoland,but

notintherestofthewesternworld.

InFebruary2016,researcherslooked

forbacteriophagesspecifictoPatter-

son’sbacterialculture.Thetreatment

beganon 15 March.Pattersonwokeon

20 Marchandisnowfullyrecovered–

althoughhewasinhospitalforanother

fourmonths.

Ina laboratoryatMasseyUniversi-

ty’sAlbanycampus,scientistandsenior

lecturerHeatherHendricksonandher

undergraduateandPhDstudentsare

ona phage-findingmission.They’ve

discovered 24 newphages,whichshe

calls nature’s ninjas in the battle against

Spotthedifference

Anantimicrobialisanagent

thatkillsmicroorganisms,

includingbacteriaandfungi,

orstopstheirgrowth.While

antibacterialproducts

suchassoapanddetergents

preventthedevelopmentof

bacteria,antimicrobialagents

likealcohol-basedhand

sanitiserspreventthespread

ofbacteria,fungi,parasites

andsomeviruses.Thisgives

antimicrobialproductsa

broaderscopeofprotection

thanantibacterialproducts.

Inessence,antimicrobials

canactasantibacterials,

antifungals and antiparasitics.

SteffanieStrathdeeholdsanimage

ofabacteriophage;herhusband,

TomPatterson,holdsarendering

ofAcinetobacterbaumannii, the

WHENPATTERSONCONTRACTEDTHEDEADLY bacteria that almost killed him.

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANTACINETOBACTERBAUMANNII

ONABUCKET-LISTTRIPTOEGYPTIN2015,HISWIFE

TURNEDINDESPERATIONTOTHEINTERNETFOR

ALTERNATIVETREATMENTSAFTERMORETHAN

A DOZEN ANTIBIOTICS COULDN’T CURE HIM.