A Virus, Fished out of a Lake, May Have Saved a Man's Life

The most common forms of medicine used to fight bacterial infections are antiobiotics; however, in the case of a man Dr. Ali Khodadoust, a virus was used to kill the serious infection that was nearly killing him. Clearly, a virus doesn't seem like the best form of medicine, but a virus-using method called phage therapy has actually been used for over a century. Back before antibiotics were discovered, bacteria-infecting viruses called bacteriophages were used to treat infections. This method became outdated and was never studied enough because of the submergence of antibiotics. But, when the bacteria killing Dr. Ali Khodadoust was resistant to antibiotics, the use of page therapy was turned to.

In 2012, Khodadoust had to have a coronary artery bypass, in which there was a piece of plastic mesh patching placed on his aorta. The mash patch end up having a bacteria on it called Pseudomonas aerugino that created a massive infection on the aorta. This bacteria is virtually harmless to healthy people, but can be extremely harmful to someone with a weakened immune-system, such as someone with cystic fibrosis, which we talked about in our first case study. 

Antibiotics were tried, but the bacteria was resistant to them. A fistula, which is essentially a hole, formed on his chest. The hole became infected by the bacteria as well. For three months he was on large amounts of antibiotics that were only helping a little bit, and carrying an IV port with him. The doctors didn't know what to do because they were scared of spreading the bacteria. Just as Khodadoust was falling into a "miserable medical limbo", a scientist named Benjamin Chan came with an idea. He wanted to try phage therapy on the infection. All they had to do was find bacteriophages that killed infections like Pseudomonas aeruginosa. 

After searching for weeks, a sample of water from a Dodge Pond in Connecticut came up. Bacteriophages from the water were tested and worked on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa sample! They called this perfect virus OMKO1. Chan and the other doctors made a plan to use this OMKO1 on the infection and then kill off any remaining bacteria with strong antibiotics. This plan was a risky one to be tried on Khodadoust, but something had to be done -- it was do or die for him. Chan and the other doctors got the operation approved by the FDA and did it. 

Five weeks after the surgery, Khodadoust was in his homeland of Iran and had to be rushed into surgery to stop massive bleeding from a bone poke in his fistula. After the surgery, they tested him for Pseudomonas, and there was no trace at all. The phage therapy had worked! Miraculously, the virus had worked against the bacteria and they concluded that OMKO1 was capable and worth studying much further. 

I found this article incredibly intriguing and awesome. I never knew that viruses, which are normally looked at in a negative aspect, could be used in a positive way. I think it shows how cool biology is -- how the medicine we may need could be all around us. This article and assignment definitely make me want to read more on these websites.


-Connor Lemmon