Bacteriophage therapy, old idea, new stage

Abstract:

Bacteriophage therapy had been considered as an effective way for bacterial infection treatment for a long time. The research was started in the beginning of twenty century, but discontinued in America and Western Europe with the advent of antibiotics. Recently, scientists started to re-evaluate the bacteriophage therapy due to the worldwide bacteria resistance and found the great potential of phage-based prophylaxis and therapy of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. This paper reviews the history of bacteriophage therapy and the application in the treatment of human and animal bacterial in-fection, compares the difference between bacteriophage and antibiotics therapy and also discusses the existing problems and the future development of this technique.