According to an expert at the University of Birmingham and the Cancer Registry of Norway, there are certain types of viruses, known as bacteriophages, that attack bacteria and could be used to fight bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients whose immune systems have been weakened by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Bacteriophages are viruses that do not harm humans but can be used to target specific bacteria.
In a review published in the journal, Phage: Therapy, Applications and Research, scientists propose two strategies to use bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients.
The first strategy involves using bacteriophages to treat secondary respiratory bacterial infections, which have a high mortality rate, especially in older patients. In this approach, the idea is to reduce the number of bacteria, thus limiting their spread, which might give COVID-19 patients enough time to produce antibodies against the virus.
According to the author of the study and Marie Skodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham, Dr. Marcin Wojewodzic, says “By introducing bacteriophages, it may be possible to buy precious time for the patients' immune systems and it also offers a different or complementary strategy to the standard antibiotic therapies."
The second strategy is to synthetically alter bacteriophages and use them to manufacture antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 patients would then receive the treatment via nose or mouth spray. A benefit to this approach is that the antibodies could be produced quickly and cheaply using existing technology.
"If this strategy works, it will hopefully buy time to enable a patient to produce their own specific antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and thus reduce the damage caused by an excessive immunological reaction," says Wojewodzic, who has called for clinical trials for both strategies.
Wojewodzic continues, "This pandemic has shown us the power viruses have to cause harm. However, by using beneficial viruses as an indirect weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other pathogens, we can harness that power for a positive purpose and use it to save lives. The beauty of nature is that while it can kill us, it can also come to our rescue. It's clear that no single intervention will eliminate COVID-19. In order to make progress, we need to approach the problem from as many different angles and disciplines as possible."