Bacteriophages against nosocomial infections

Russian scientists have distinguished and characterized two new bacterial viruses, the action of which is aimed at destroying antibiotic -resistant bacteria Acinetobacter Baumannii , causing flashes of infection in medical institutions. The results of the work were published in Viruses , briefly about the study is reported by the press release of the Moscow Physics and Technical Institute.

I would know where to fall, the straws of B put down

The problem of nosocomial, or nosocomial, infections is one of the most important for modern health care. In many countries, there is an increase in infectious incidence in hospitals of medical institutions, which is significantly associated with the spread of strains of microorganisms that are resistant to various antibacterial drugs.

To date, thanks to the high level and wide spectrum of natural and acquired resistance to various antibiotics, the representative of the bacteria of the Azinetobacter - Acinetobacter baumannii - is one of the most significant pathogens around the world.

In resuscitation and intensive care units, as well as in burn departments, this microorganism can cause the development of various infectious complications: from hospital pneumonia to brain abscesses.

This bacterium has mechanisms that provide resistance to the vast majority of antibiotics, disinfectants, drying, ultraviolet radiation. Its pathogenicity is due to the total action of a number of factors, one of which is capsular polysaccharides - surface structures that form a thick protective layer (capsule) around a bacterial cell.

Everything is new - well -forgotten old

The natural opponent of bacteria is viruses. The property of certain strains of viruses to infect and kill specific types of bacteria - the cause of various infections, was investigated at the beginning of the 20th century. The bacteriophages were discovered in 1915 by the British microbiologist Frederick Tworth and in 1917 by the Canadian employee of the Pasteur Institute in Paris - Felix D'Aerrelem. The appearance of antibiotics made it possible to forget this area of ​​research for a long time. With the advent of multi -resistant, resistant to many antibiotics of bacterial strains, the search for other ways to combat infections has become relevant again. Microbiologists again returned to the study of viruses called bacteriophages or phages, as an alternative as drugs for bacterial diseases.

Scientists have examined the lytic bacteriophages, that is, those that, after infection of the bacterial cell and the reproduction period, quickly destroy the bacterium, freeing their offspring. The use of these phages, as well as enzymes and proteins encoded in their genetic material, is one of the possible approaches to solving the problem of the spread of antibiotic -resistant strains A. Baumannii and other types of bacteria.

The lithic cycle of the development of the virus: 1-2 - the introduction of viral DNA into a bacterial cell, modification of the vital activity of the bacteria; 3 - replication of phage DNA and synthesis of viral proteins; 4 - the formation of mature viral particles; 5 - lysis (dissolution) of the bacterial cell, the output of new phage particles.

Litical phages do not affect the normal microflora, respectively, do not cause the development of dysbi -osis processes; Bacteriophages are able to increase their numbers until all bacterial cells sensitive to them are destroyed. Viruses can be used along with other antibacterial agents, including to combat multiple-resistant microorganisms.

In the study of two new bacterial viruses that scabies A. Baumannii , scientists from MFTI, the Institute of Antimicrobial Chemicalotherapy of Smolensk Medical University, the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after Shemyakina -ovchinnikova, St. Petersburg Medical University. The work was led under the leadership of Sergei Leonov, director of the physical school of biological and medical physics of the MIPT and Konstantin Severinov, Professor Skoltkh.

Anastasia Popova, an employee of the development of innovative drugs and agricultural technologies of the Center for living systems of the MIPT: “In this work, two new bacteriophages VB_ABAP_AS11 and VB_ABAP_AS12 (AS11 and AS12) were allocated and described in this work, which were unleasable to the genus of FRI1VIRUS. , subfamily Autographivirinae family Podoviridae . The lytic activity of bacteriophages was tested on 100 clinical antibiotic -resistant insulators A. Baumannii of 53 hospitals and 32 cities of Russia and Belarus. It was noted that these bacterial viruses are characterized by rapid adsorption to the bacterial host cell and a high output of the facial offspring in one infected bacterial cell. The organization of the genetic material (genomes) AS11 and AS12 was studied and the strategy for the interaction of viruses with bacterial cells was described. ”