A groundbreaking international study — the largest of its kind — led by Hadassah Medical Organization doctors produced an 86.6 percent success rate when using PASA16 bacteriophage therapy for pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.

 

The study, headed by Prof. Ran Nir-Paz, an associate professor of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Prof. Ronen Hazan, a microbiologist at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Faculty of Dental Medicine, shows the potential effectiveness of this technique to treat antibiotic-resistant disease. While the technique was invented a century ago, using phage therapy to treat antibacterial disease in humans had never been shown to work in an orderly manner in reproducible clinical trials and has not been widely used.

“This groundbreaking research offers hope for patients with persistent infections and highlights the potential of phage therapy as a valuable alternative to conventional antibiotics in combating antibiotic-resistant pathogens,” said the doctors.

 

The pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria is found in the environment and as part of bacteria in humans. It is both a pathogen and an opportunistic bacterium that causes infections in people with weakened immune systems or underlying chronic illnesses.

 

Read more about how Hadassah is beating bacteria that resist antibiotics in Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post.