Isnt it that phages can be engeneered to a specific bacteria? Also the other way around.
The can be programmed with the dna of the bacteria.
So pcr the bacteria then make phages that atack them. My knowledge is bad . Could you elaborate where the engeneering problem is and the cost factors? Thanks
The problem is that they are highly specific. You would need the industrial machinery to manufacture a highly specific treatment. With anything in medicine/biology, specificity dramatically increases cost.
There's also the pre-treatment testing that would be necessary to determine what to target. There's also the shipment of a bacterial specimen that would be used to create a phage (which is something we don't do currently... we'll ship a specimen to a testing center, best case). Those are two different bacterial specimens needed. Then you have to ship the phages back. Alive. Then store and administer then properly. People fail to take their antibiotics properly. They're going to royally screw up phages.
What about bacteria that you can't culture (treponema pallidum, aka syphilis)?
All of this is in contrast to antibiotics.
Is it gram positive or gram negative? Treat. Did it work? Yes, good. No, treat again. Did it work? Yes, good. No, test for resistance. Move to a stronger antibiotic and repeat.
You really don't even need to know what the exact bacteria is that you're targeting with antibiotics.
Thank you very much. I google a bit and here in germany we are allready building a database and a stock of phagea for specific bacteria. They allready have over 1000 phages. They also have „phage cocktails“ for broadband. They also state your points. Thanks again. Here the link in german
They're numerous and widespread, so it should be possible to find the phage you want. If bacteria evolve to develop resistance to it, bacteriophage can evolve to overcome that resistance.
