The National Clinical Hospital “Timofei Mosneaga” of Chisinau is interested in applying a new method for treating diseases caused by multidrug-resistant microbial strains. This is fagotheraphy, which is therapy with bacteriophages. The method was presented in a conference by microbiologist of the University of Hannover Yevgeny Rubalskii, IPN reports, quoting a pres release of the medical institution.
Marina Zibliuc, of the Hospital’s press service, has told IPN, that the new method is on the way of being implemented. Microbiologist Yevgeny Rubalskii will be invited more often to Chisinau to train doctors as part of a series of workshops. The exact time when the new method will be applied is not known. To do this, adjustments to the legislation are also required.
The Hospital’s director Anatol Ciubotaru said resistance to antibiotics in the contemporary world increased considerably and fagotheraphy is that method that can help treat patients.
Bacteriophages are viruses that can destroy bacteria and can be used to treat infectious diseases. When cultivated in the lab, these can be used to treat diseases caused by microbial strains resistant to all the antibiotics known by modern medicine. The microorganisms were discovered by microbiologist Felix Hubert d’Herelle in 1917 and were broadly used in medicine. When penicillin and other antibiotics appeared, these were forgotten.
Microbiologist Yevgeny Rubalskii said the bacteriophages are not harmful to people and animals. These can be produced in several days, while a new antibiotic can be discovered in several decades.
Head of the Hospital’s epidemiological service Marcela Chilianu noted fagotheraphy is an old method and this started to be again widely applied in Georgia, Poland and Russia. The National Clinical Hospital “Timofei Mosneaga” has skilled personnel and a modern microbiological laboratory for applying fagotheraphy in Moldova as well.
