Bacteriophages found to combat antibiotic resistance in kitchen sponges

Researchers at the New York Institute of Technology have discovered that bacteriophages that combat antibiotic resistance may be present in household kitchen sponges. As the threat of antibiotic resistance grows, bacteriophages, or phages for short, may prove useful in fighting bacteria that cannot be killed by antibiotics alone. The research will be presented at ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, and bacteriophages are considered a potential therapy against multi-resistant bacterial strains.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global health, food security, and development today. Bacteriophages—or phages—are viruses that target and kill bacteria. They live wherever bacteria are found, including soil and water, and are being studied as an alternative treatment for drug-resistant infections.

A kitchen sponge is exposed to all types of microbes, forming a vast microbiome of bacteria. Phages are the most abundant biological particles on the planet and are typically found wherever bacteria reside. With this understanding, kitchen sponges seemed a likely place to find them.
This project began as part of a research study with seven students at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Old Westbury, New York.
Students in a research class isolated bacteria from their own used kitchen sponges and then used the bacteria as bait to find phages that could attack them. Two students successfully discovered phages that infect bacteria living in their kitchen sponges. “Our study shows the value of searching in a microbial environment where potentially useful phages may exist,” said Brianna Weiss, a life sciences student at the New York Institute of Technology.

Source and more at: https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in/bacteriophages-key-to-counter-antibiotic-resistance-found-in-kitchen-sponge/amp/

Sharp rise in antibiotic-resistant pathogens in India

In India, the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens is increasing sharply. This was reported by Sebastian Manns, correspondent for ARD radio in New Delhi, and by Indian media on June 5, 2019.

A study by the Indian health authorities found that two thirds of the people tested had bacteria in their bodies that no longer respond to antibiotic treatment.

In Germany, studies put the figure at around 10% of the population. In Europe, there are said to be around 33,000 deaths each year due to antibiotic resistance.

Heavy use in livestock farming

However, the proportion is significantly higher among people who work in agriculture—especially in livestock farming—at around 21%.
This is because antibiotics are often used in livestock farming to prevent outbreaks of epidemics.

Source and more: https://www.msn.com/de-de/nachrichten/wissenundtechnik/starke-zunahme-antibiotikaresistenter-keime-in-indien/ar-AACrm3z

Concern about hospital-acquired pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa

28 patients at the Cologne Medical Care Center have fallen ill with a bacterial infection. All had been treated for back pain – such as herniated discs. An 84-year-old man has now died as a result of the infection – presumably with the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa – due to multiple organ failure. Other treated patients are suffering from meningitis.

The affected individuals are among a total of 300 patients who, between January and March of this year, received anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers injected into their spines via injection needle at the care center.

In all cases, medical professionals had monitored the complex procedure with the help of a computed tomography scanner. The clinic itself reported the infection cases to the Cologne public prosecutor’s office.

The German Society for Hospital Hygiene described the case as “the most severe outbreak with this pathogen ever in an outpatient medical facility.”

What makes the matter even more complicated: There are different Pseudomonas aeruginosa variants, which may also react differently to antibiotics. Thorough investigations of the genetic material of the germs and the possible sources of infection in the practice will ultimately clarify which of them – and whether any of them – is responsible for the death and the illnesses.

 

Source: and more at https://www.dw.com/de/sorge-vor-krankenhauskeim-pseudomonas-aeruginosa/a-48747241

How Predators Influence Our Gut Flora – Bacteriophages

The gut microbiome is a complex, interconnected ecosystem of species. And as in any ecosystem, some organisms are predators and others are prey. A new study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Wyss Institute examines the effects of bacteriophages—viruses that infect and kill bacteria. They found that phages can have a profound impact on the dynamics of the gut microbiome by not only directly affecting certain species, but also creating a cascading effect on others. Phages can also affect their human host by modulating metabolites, including chemical substances found in the brain. The team includes first author Bryan Hsu and corresponding senior author Pamela Silver of the Wyss Institute, as well as Dr. Lynn Bry of Brigham and director of the Massachusetts Host-Microbiome Center, Cell Host & Microbe.

“One of the main interests in my lab is understanding changes in gut microbiome dynamics. Bacteriophages are a major component of the microbiome, but have not yet been studied much,” said Dr. Gerber, PhD, MPH, co-director of the Massachusetts Host-Microbiome Center and head of the Division of Computational Pathology in the Department of Pathology at Brigham. “Some people are researching phage therapy and using phages to kill microbes, but phages also occur naturally in the gut and coexist with the rest of the ecosystem. We wanted to find out what they do there.”

To answer this question, the team colonized the guts of mice with a defined set of human bacterial species and then added phages to track the growth of each microbe. Using high-throughput sequencing and computational analyses, the team found that the phages caused attrition of the species they preyed on, as expected, but with a ripple effect on the rest of the ecosystem, including blooms of non-target species.

In addition to examining the effects on microbes, the team also investigated the effects on the metabolome—chemical substances that can originate from both the host and the bacteria present. They found that when modulating the microbiome with phages, they could detect targeted changes in the metabolome, including changes in neurotransmitter levels and bile acids.

“I find this result fascinating to follow up on, and it raises important questions: Can we use phages to modulate these activities? Could this be an intervention for conditions such as depression, where you want to change neurotransmitter levels?” said Gerber. “Even if they are not used as a direct therapeutic, our study suggests that phages can be a useful tool for understanding the potential effects of other therapeutics that alter the microbiome.”

Gerber and his colleagues are particularly interested in investigating the interface between phages and malnutrition in developing countries, as malnutrition can have profound effects on the metabolome and the microbiome.

“We hope that our work provides a framework for future studies to investigate the interplay between phages, microbiota, and the host’s health and disease,” said Gerber.

Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-phage-bacteria-predators-gut-microbiome.amp

Bryan B. Hsu et al., Dynamic Modulation of the Gut Microbiota and Metabolome by Bacteriophages in a Mouse Model, Cell Host & Microbe (2019)