In a record-breaking event, scientists have for the first time successfully been able to use a virus that is genetically modified to treat a patient with an antibiotic-resistant infection. Doctors had already lost all hope in Isabelle Carnaway-Holdaway who was 17 after all treatment failed to help her. That was when they decided to try out the experimental treatment with her. Their hope is that the eventual success of this experiment will embolden more doctors and scientists to try to treat potential superbugs this way in the future and help to stem the threat that antibiotic-resistant infections are posing to human health.
Key Takeaways:
- A phage, which is a virus capable of infecting a bacteria, has been engineered and used to treat a young woman recuperating from a lung transplant.
- The young woman, who has since gotten well enough to live almost normally, got a superbug after her operation.
- The 17-year-old teenager began the experimental procedure as a Hail Mary, as her physicians had given up hope for her recovery.
“For the first time, scientists have used genetically modified viruses to treat a patient fighting an antibiotic-resistant infection.”
