Delivering Phage Products to Combat Antibiotic Resistance in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Africa

The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis and HIV/AIDS epidemic exhibit many parallels. In both, infectious diseases have caused millions of deaths worldwide, with AMR expected to kill even more people each year than HIV/AIDS did at its peak. In addition, both have required or will require new class...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses 2018-06, Vol.10 (7), p.345
Main Author: Nagel, Tobi E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa - epidemiology
Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use
Anti-Infective Agents - economics
Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use
antibiotic
antimicrobial resistance
Bacterial Infections - drug therapy
Bacterial Infections - prevention & control
bacteriophage
Developing Countries
Drug Discovery
Drug Resistance, Microbial
Epidemics - prevention & control
Global Health
HIV Infections - drug therapy
HIV Infections - epidemiology
HIV Infections - prevention & control
Humans
infectious disease
Phage Therapy
Review
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Summary:The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis and HIV/AIDS epidemic exhibit many parallels. In both, infectious diseases have caused millions of deaths worldwide, with AMR expected to kill even more people each year than HIV/AIDS did at its peak. In addition, both have required or will require new classes of drugs for control. For HIV/AIDS, development of vital antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) was accomplished in several stages: expanding public awareness about the disease, gathering commitment from the international community to tackle the problem, and eventually establishing policies and global funds to deliver new therapeutics. For AMR, the pursuit of new antimicrobials appears to be following a similar trajectory. This paper examines how lessons and processes leading to ARVs might be applied to developing AMR drugs, in particular bacteriophages (phages). These possess many essential characteristics: inexpensive manufacture, rapid drug development, and a ready means to prevent phage-resistant microbes from emerging. However, the broad application of phage-based products has yet to be fully demonstrated, and will require both international coordination and modified regulatory policies.
ISSN:1999-4915
1999-4915
DOI:10.3390/v10070345