Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? [Hardcover]

Thomas Häusler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403987645 | ISBN-13: 978-1403987648 | Publication Date: May 11, 2006 | Edition: 1

In the US alone some 90,000 people die from superbugs--bacteria that have grown immune to antibiotics. Officials agree that this problem will only get worse with time and new alternatives must be found. One alternative that is being considered by scientists is a kind of virus called a bacteriophage. "Phages"--viruses that kill bacteria but not humans--were discovered in 1915. Phage therapy was successfully used for twenty years before the invention of penicillin made them obsolete everywhere but Eastern Europe, where they are still in use today. In its first English translation, this book tells the fascinating story behind the history of the phage, its discovery and development, as well as the strides that are being made to bring the therapy back to the West today.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Once upon a time, before penicillin, medicine's perpetual battle with bacterial infection was waged with biological weapons. Phages--viruses that kill bacteria but are harmless to humans--were used to perform duties for which they seemed uniquely destined. The story of bacteriophage therapy, which began in the early twentieth century, is dramatic and frustrating. The drama lies in Swedish science editor Hausler's account of how the ideas of an arrogant rogue scientist, Felix d'Herelle, flew in the faces of his contemporaries and how he persevered to prove his hypotheses, only to see his discovery put on a back burner, at least in the West, when modern antibiotics burst upon the scene. That development would have been fine if it had meant a conclusion to struggle against the likes of strep and staph infections. The problem is, however, that greater and greater numbers of serious bacteria are becoming antibiotic resistant. With nearly 90,000 Americans dying each year because antibiotic treatments are no longer effective, something must be done. Hausler proposes renewed investigation into bacteriophage therapy but paints a dismal picture of its likelihood. It is, he says, effective and organic but unlikely to become a cash cow for pharmaceutical companies. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"An exceptionally thorough book, extraordinarily well written and scientifically authoritative...a book about an explosive subject, that could not have been done better"--Spektrum der Wissenschaften, the German Scientific American

 

"Thomas Häusler tells a forgotten chapter of the history of medicine that ends in the present with a surprising comeback. His book is riveting and written in an exemplary style."--Schweizerische Ärztezeitung

 

"Thomas Häusler traces in his gripping book the story of the rise, the fall and the possible renaissance of bacteriophages as drugs."--Basler Zeitung

"The Swiss science journalist Thomas Häusler has written an extremely compelling popular science book."--Laborjournal

 

"Häusler's book tells the gripping tale of the once hyped now forgotten phage therapy."--Tages-Anzeiger

 

"Thomas Häusler paints a vivid and engaging picture of the larger-than-life characters who committed themselves to the development of phage therapy. The science is there - in easily understandable language - but so are Stalin's purges and the Second World War. Bacteriophage therapy has not yet taken off - but promise is there. This authoritative book explains why."--T. Hugh Pennington, president of the British Society for General Microbiology

 

"This book, documented with rare photographs and abundant references, is scientific journalism at its best and a fascinating contribution to the history of medicine."--Professor Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann, Laval University

 

"Häusler shares with us the fascinating fruits of a remarkable year-long odyssey in time and space, during which he explored the depths of archives old and new, from the Pasteur Institute to NIH, Los Angeles hospitals, Tbilisi clinics and German companies. His thoughtful interviews and strong, ongoing scholarship bring to life the work of Felix d'Herelle and his scientific descendents in tantalizing and accessible fashion." --Elizabeth Kutter, Evergreen State College

 

"The reader will put down this page-turner inspired, hopeful, and utterly convinced of phage therapy's imminence and inevitability. An indispensable primer for everyone concerned with the onset of the post-antibiotic age."--Asher Wilf, CEO, Phage-Biotech

 

"FOUR STARS: A good book--excellent use of the stories of real people involved in the fight against bacteria." --www.popularscience.co.uk

"Unusually well-researched, outstandingly well-written. This book deserves to be on the shelf of every private and public library." --Epoch Times

 

"A salient and thought provoking take on society's attitudes toward disease and medicine." --www.scienceagogo.com

 

"All the ingredients of a John Le Carré spy novel: fascinating." --EMBO Reports

 

“A thoroughly scholarly account, in a highly entertaining narrative form. A compelling read, populated with fascinating characters.” --Micro Today

 

"Valuable reading, both for specialists and for interested general readers." --Journal of the American Medical Association

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (May 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403987645
• ISBN-13: 978-1403987648
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,348,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, thorough telling of the story, January 9, 2007

By 

Kenneth Pidcock (Wilkes-Barre, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Hardcover)

Phage therapy, like passive immunization, is a great "back to the future" medical story. It has gotten some attention from science journalists but, to date, everybody has just told part of the story. Thomas Hausler, in writing "Viruses vs Superbugs", has filled out the story and offers a persuasive case for phage therapy's continued relevance. The history chapters are especially fascinating. I was not previously aware of the extent to which epidemiological studies had been conducted.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting history of phage therapy and its possible future, June 5, 2009

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Hardcover)

This is mostly a history of bacteriophage therapy with an emphasis on the pioneering work of French bacteriologist Felix d'Herelle beginning before World War I. Much of the early work was done during the Great War in places like the Soviet Union to combat bacterial infection associated with battlefield wounds. D'Herelle himself went to such places as India to study cholera phages and was able to save the lives of many people.

Bacteriophages are viruses that exclusively attack bacteria much the same way other viruses attack our cells by invading and taking over the DNA machinery to reproduce themselves. After getting the bacterium to produce perhaps as many as a thousand or more viruses the phages burst open the bacteria cells walls with enzymes and flow out to attack other bacteria. With such a multiplier effect it doesn't take long to infect and destroy billions of bacteria. Typically there are some bacteria that are immune to the particular phage but their numbers are so small that our immune systems finish them off. Some of the cures in the book have been spectacular. Hausler reports on dying patients up and feeling fine in a day or two.

Over the years there were many such successes. However, because the actual studies and experiments were conducted with less rigor than modern standards require and because there were dosage problems and unsubstantiated claims, bacteriophage therapy has had a checkered history. When penicillin and other antibiotics came into widespread use in the forties, phage therapy was all but forgotten. Now with bacteria becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics, interest in phage therapy has returned. Hausler devotes a significant portion of the book to describing the problems and promises of phage therapy and explains why progress toward using phages against resistant bacteria has been so slow.

Where it seems likely that new successes will occur (and are occurring) is in veterinarian medicine. Until it becomes easier (and cheaper) to get phage products through the FDA in the US, most of the work will probably be with animals, especially those animals like cows, pigs, and chickens that become our food. With part of the problem of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics due to their use in animal feed, using phage therapy instead, or in combination with antibiotics, could become widespread.

While it is true that bacteria evolve and become resistant to their phages, it is also true that phages themselves can evolve to bypass bacterial resistance. In other words there is a primordial "arms war" going on between phages and bacteria of which we can take advantage. One method microbiologists use to find phages that work against specific bacteria is to take water from sewers where the bacteria have been excreted from people or animals and search that water for phages. There will be found the phages that have evolved to attack the bacteria that have evolved!

The book has plenty of endnotes and a good index. Of special interest perhaps are the appendices, one listing common bacteria and what they do to us, and the other detailing the advantages and disadvantages of phage therapy.

All and all this is a good introduction to an exciting and promising area of medical science. But note well the question mark at the end of the book's subtitle: "A Solution to the Antibiotic Crisis?" It would appear that phage therapy will not solve the crisis by itself, but will most likely allow us to rely less on antibiotics, thereby allowing some antibiotics to be used for longer periods of time before bacterial resistance sets in.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent history of bacteriophages, September 21, 2009

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Lux Veritas (ex Silicon Valley) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Paperback)

Even though I have done a fair amount of study of bacteriophages this book informed me of much I didn't know. For example, the use of phages during an epidemic in Los Angeles in the '40's. Well written and highly recommended for anyone intrested in the history of this subject.