Yesterday I posted my feedback to the Science Museum on the gallery "The Science and Art of Medicine": 
I notice that this exhibition is funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is only natural to assume that (1) a pioneering 20th Century British microbiologist has been excluded along with pioneering bacteriophage medicine and (2) historic photographic evidence of the downside of vaccines is even removed with no explanation or apology. This is a bit sinister.

Since there was inadequate space on the feedback form to add my further comments, here they are.

There was a tableau of microbiologists investigating bacteria where the labcoats were absolutely disgusting - deliberately depicted like that. What a terrible advert for microbiology in the UK - nothing like Georgia, Poland or the USA, nor Keele University Microbiology Department in the 1970s, nor the schools where I taught, where labcoats were meticulously clean and bright white.

What gets my prize for bad taste? A DRUG CASTLE, no less. Note the 50 pence coins littering the floor.




















The Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin behind it dating back to 1980 states:
"Adverse effects from drug therapy are thought to affect between 10 - 16 % of patients admitted to hospital and may account for 1 in 40 consultations in general practice."

Don't forget, this stuff is what pollutes our water system and ends up poisoning the food chain.

At long last I have managed to find a bacteriophage in a museum in London. No, it wasn't the Natural History Museum - I did look there to see whether viruses were included in the Earth Hall regarding the origins of life. Oops, no, not even mentioned.

So I went next door to the Science Museum in Exhibition Road, to see if, this time, there were any updates since my last visit a few years ago.

My feedback form:

                          "Congratulations on your Centenary but you are doing nothing to celebrate the discovery of bacteriophages during that time by F W Twort FRS in 1915 and F. d'Herelle in 1917. At last I have found a diagram of one, in your crazy room about 'Health Matters' on Level 3 as part of a mural but really the annoying music and repetitive commentary are enough to prevent any learning or study at that point.
Again the Science and Art of Medicine on Levels 4 and 5 fail to mention phage typing, virology, phage therapy in World War 2 and the Cold War or display any vials.
N.B. There is a display item missing - an old leaflet about the dangers and side effects of vaccines."

Here is one of my photos, annotated. If you are planning to make use of this photo on the internet or in a presentation, I advise you to accredit it to me, Grace Filby, copyright 2010, and make a suitable donation to a children's hospice as payment.


              

Title of publication: A Literature Review of the Practical Application of Bacteriophage Research

Author: Nina Chanishvili


Editor: Richard Sharp, UK Health Protection Agency

Contributors: Nina Chanishvili, Teimuraz Chanishvili, Marina Tediashvili, Goderdzishvili, Dali Gogiashvili, Yana Malkhazova, Nana Khurtsia

Publisher: Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology & Virology, Tbilisi, Georgia (email: n_chanish.ibmv@caucasus.net)

Date of publication: December 2009

Number of pages: 184

_____________________________________________________________

Although I had offered to become involved in this UK Global Threat Reduction Programme project and suggested that I could clarify outstanding issues and help with the nuances of the language translation, the Ministry of Defence in London declined this for contractual reasons, adding: “In any case, we are content that we have sufficient scientific and linguistic expertise within the Department to manage the workload”.

Well, it is a shame that Her Majesty’s government and the editor didn’t take more care over the proofreading, considering this G8-funded priority project was under their supervision and it was bound to become a valuable historic document. It is a long-awaited positive outcome of the Cold War from the Eliava Institute in the Republic of Georgia. Some of the typographical errors and mis-spellings are actually rather charming and even funny, but being a serious scientific volume of 184 pages closely printed, it takes a while to find them. Poor old Professor Twort FRS. Yet again, he would have felt let down by British officialdom for not noticing the need to anglicize the spelling of his Christian name, Frederick, in Chapter 16. I do hope that further editions will put this right as a mark of respect to this noble and brave pioneering scientist.

There is no need for me to comment on the quality of the scientific content, although I do still wonder whether there was any old literature on the use of phages in dentistry. I know there is a lot of potential in this area, confirmed by enlightened dentists in the UK and USA.  On the subject of chapter headings, it was a bit confusing to read that information in traumatology may be found in the chapters “Phages in Surgery” and “Intravenous Bacteriophage” when the latter doesn’t exist in this published version. The historical note about the execution of George Eliava is not half as interesting as the romantic story I was told in Georgia.

That said, the subject matter is presented steadily throughout. The contributors are to be congratulated for having accomplished this massive task, fulfilling the dreams of the late Professor Teimuraz Chanishvili, to whose memory the report is dedicated.

There is a case study on page 25, dating back precisely seventy years that caught my attention. It goes back to the beginning of World War 2 in Russia. A soldier had received multiple wounds from a mine explosion. I will spare you the gory details but after surgery and a whole month in hospital, his condition was serious, his septic wounds being infected with Streptococcus. During that time he became delirious for two weeks. Several different treatments were having no curative effect. Then when eventually the doctor applied phage, that very night, the patient managed to sleep. The next day, the case history reports, his condition was “joyful”. Same again, the next day. “Joyful”. After another two weeks he was released from hospital! I wonder what happened to him in the next five years of wartime.

There is a similarity here with a reported dramatic recovery in 1961 in the Western world. Internationally famous actress Elizabeth Taylor was cured from staphylococcal pneumonia overnight, when the previous day phages had been applied.  Despite considerable published evidence from the USA, the role of phages in this medical turnaround has been staunchly dismissed by several top-drawer British individuals for dubious reasons, not least, even “the word on the street”.

The Eliava report gently and firmly makes the point that large numbers of Red Army soldiers received phages gladly, compared to their less fortunate comrades who were not prescribed it. The soldiers were actually requesting it. The 1941 wartime researcher concluded that the need for large scale surgery was therefore reduced and there was less infection, less pain, less moving around of the patients, less days in hospital, hence back on “active service” far sooner. Please note that a reminder of the considerable economic savings in 21^st century bold financial terms was also published, in English. That significant research was by the Polish phage therapy team as recently as 2008.

The glossary is a real treasure for those of us that are not medically trained. It is like a foreign language in itself with so many syllables, ghastly spelling challenges and fifteen different words ending in “-itis”. Oh, what a delight to see the word “Borjomi”. Just to explain, this is the home of a mineral water factory in the beautiful mountainous countryside. It provided the huge fortune of Grand Duke Michael of Russia, a cousin of the Czar who banished him from the Empire, for marrying beneath his station. So he spent his time in the lap of luxury in Cannes and elsewhere. He was a great friend of King Edward VII, occasionally staying here in Reigate and Polesden Lacey at grand house parties, whilst renting Keele Hall in Staffordshire every summer for ten years. Both his daughters married into our British aristocracy, with descendants in the Royal family. So it is also rather grand that the Borjomi mineral water bottled in Georgia since 1876, is described in this new report as being well known for its healing effect in Russia and the Former Soviet Union.

Visually, it is a pleasure to see such clear data tables, painstakingly quantifying the patients and their details. Likewise it is a refreshing change to see colour photographs of all seven Georgian contributors alongside their professional and linguistic achievements and qualifications. However, again a publishing point, the colour reproduction quality could be upgraded to do justice to their features. Overall their professional experience spans 65 years and note that six of the seven contributors are female. They are modest regarding their multi-lingual abilities since whereas between them, they speak Russian, English, French and Italian, the rest of the world might need it pointed out that these are their additional learned languages. Georgians, in fact, have not only a language of their own, but also their own unique alphabet.

Near the end of the report is an intriguing account of a laboratory experiment in a plastic box to study phages as disinfectants. Good gracious!  The mathematics is way over my head but someone needs to look at that urgently for potential in our Western hospitals where the air is not noted for its freshness and even the windows are not designed to open. Again, the contributors have thoughtfully included three colour photographs as illustrations but once more, the colour printing could be upgraded.

Perhaps the width of type across the page is too great. A wider margin would make the whole production easier to read for tired eyes like mine, especially if the reader is reluctant to take on board a whole new approach to medicine compared with conventional Western practice. This would no doubt involve more paper and production costs but it would make the book easier to read.

I trust this book will become a veritable mine of information for scientists and physicians around the world, and for the general public if they can get hold of a copy. There is one inevitability in life – death. So if we are offered a ‘gift on a plate’ of a way of healing bacterial infections – indeed, preventing bacterial infections too, then we might as well embrace it and read the book from cover to cover if we can.

This literature review is one of those books which is a real “first”. It is a privilege to have received an early copy. Some of my comments from first impressions about the production process may appear to be hard criticism for some, but I think, the responsibility to point out these oversights falls to me, being free of restrictions from employers and financial pressures to keep quiet.

Grace Filby BA(Hons) Cert Ed FRSA
Reigate, UK                                                                                           January 2010

The Nature Of Things -
 


The Nature Of Phage - 




MORE GOOD NEWS:
Holiday Greetings, 21 Dec 09: "I am thrilled to relay that I now have 12 months infection free!"; "My arm is stronger than ever"; "it is still attached and for that I'm deeply grateful" "Such a relief as you can imagine".



 





Patient's MRSA-infected arm before contacting independent UK researcher and Churchill  Fellow,Grace Filby at www.amazingphage.info in August 08.



 



Patient's elbow in January 2009 after phage therapy in Texas, USA.
How's about that, then, Wellcome Trust?

The long-awaited Priority G-8 funded Eliava Bacteriophage Report is now printed, according to my source at the Ministry of Defence.

More info available soon. "I understand that the Institute will release copies of the report in return for a donation to the Institute of 80 Euros per copy plus postage/courier costs."

Page 137: "He begged Blackstone to find a certain serum in the United States to replace the impotent antibiotics Elizabeth was taking. Within hours Blackstone had located the drug - Staphage Lysate - which was available only from an American medical laboratory. He arranged with the hospital to fly the medicine to London, saving precious time by skipping customs. The hospital stated that an ambulance would be waiting for him at the airport if Elizabeth was still alive."

It cost me only 1 penny on the internet - a secondhand biography of Elizabeth Taylor which I quote here with just a few words for the public good as "fair use".  Kitty Kelley, can be relied upon - she was the author of Jackie Oh! and press secretary to McCarthy.

She continues the account of Elizabeth going through a healing crisis. Her husband Eddie was at her side for four days and four nights, her mother read a Christian Science book to her through one night, she was aided by an iron lung - and the next day she was out of danger. This of course, was after Staphage Lysate had been administered.

Unlike the C.David Heymann biography of Liz Taylor that I blogged about earlier this year, in this book nobody is actually crediting the scientists who make Staphage Lysate for her dramatic recovery (accrediting it to Christian Science and her husband's loving care), however it does describe the antibiotics as IMPOTENT.

The latest 'antibiotic of the day' was methicillin. Hence the term - MRSA - Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.

Anyway this is further evidence that phages were definitely applied and her life was saved, even if they didn't get credited in this Kitty Kelley biography. It is rather a shame that nowadays, Staphage Lysate is only licensed for dogs. If I were Elizabeth Taylor, I would have made a fuss, but maybe she has a secret supply.

High profile author Kitty Kelley must have been sure of her sources by describing those antibiotics as "impotent" in this case, otherwise those BigPharma manfacturers would have sued her and her publishers for damages by now! The book I have (for 1p) was published in 1981 by Book Club Associates by arrangement with Michael Joseph Ltd.

How good is your imagination?

Division M of the American Society of Microbiology mention this about BACTERIOPHAGES: "If you were to gather them all up and weigh them, they WOULD OUTWEIGH THE WORLD POPULATION OF ELEPHANTS BY A THOUSAND FOLD OR MORE."

http://www.asm.org/division/M/M.html

And they hold the secrets of life itself!
So they are never talked about or displayed in any British or American science museums.

This week was a complete change - a conference at Churchill College, Cambridge on The Cold War and its Legacy. 

 It is odd about 2 key locations they identified - recognise them?

1) Gori/Tbilisi. The Georgian War of 2008  was described by the BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall as "one symptom of unfinished business" of the Cold War.

As we know, the focus of the bombing and shooting was in Gori - precisely the new Georgian Military Hospital led by Georgia's pioneering surgeon Dr Gvasalia through the use of phages. This is where he trains other physicians in the use of phage and this is sponsored by the international Phage Biotics Foundation at the instigation of Professor Betty Kutter of Evergreen State College, WA.

2) Wroclaw & Poland.
The final battle of WW2 was in Wroclaw May 8 1945. It is the biggest country in Europe and Poland lost 1/5 of their population. Former US Ambassador to Poland the Hon Victor Ashe said that WW2 and the Cold War are both alive and well in Poland today - and yet "its geographic location is a great economic opportunity". I would agree with that.

Isn't it odd that these 2 political hotspots are exactly where phage therapy is offered to the world to soothe wounds, whether it is for military or civilian use, regardless of nationality?

The previous day there was a very interesting discussion about the Technology of the Cold War. Each of the panellists was asked to propose a technological advance that had come about as a result of the Cold War. There
were the obvious proposals - the H bomb, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radar, Trident missiles.  Eventually in the question session, Sir John Boyd who is a former Master of Churchill College, pointed out that no-one had mentioned cell biology and biotechnology!

 Then Sir Graham Farmelo (historian) agreed: "we have seriously underestimated molecular biology".

Much to my amazement, there was then a question from Dr Robert Bud - the curator of the Science Museum, with whom I had corresponded about phage therapy but then gave up trying to get my point across because he still believed that one article in the New York Times had more credibility than a number of others in US provincial newspapers or at least two well-referenced biographies of Elizabeth Taylor. Until that moment, I had no idea that Dr Bud had been sitting next door-but-one to me for the last hour and a half!

So I decided not to ask a question myself. However I did note down that in reply, the Hon. Franklin C Miller KBE (Former Pentagon and NDS staff official, now defence consultant) commented on "the power of the press to distort things" - funny, that.

I liked the summing up comment in that discussion from Dr Wagar Zaidi of Imperial College, London, who brought our attention to the power of small technologies working together - in networks.
Isn't that just how it is with molecular biology and phage colleagues internationally?

I am pleased to announce that there is a new review paper at the invitation of the publishers Thomson Reuters. It appears in the journal Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs and is online here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19649921 .

The authors are Andrzej Górski, Ryszard Miedzybrodzki , Jan Borysowski , Beata Weber-Dabrowska , Malgorzata Lobocka, Wojciech Fortuna, Slawomir Letkiewicz, Michal Zimecki, & Grace Filby.

I had a funny feeling that the orthodox vaccine bandwagon was going to get totally silly and this could be it, the one big expensive scientific gaffe that will blow the whole charade out into the open. The following news has appeared all over the press. Now, don't take its title at face value......


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com:80/articles/154396.php
"Vaccinating Children May Be Effective At Helping Control Spread Of Influenza"
Source: Warwick University

I have submitted the following opinion. Hopefully it will be listened to in academic, government and pharmaceutical circles. If my opinion is not published online as feedback, maybe it's because it is the inconvenient truth! I have also forwarded it by email to
the scientists Professor Matthew Keeling and Dr Thomas House at Warwick University;
their Communications Officer;
the Senior Press Officer at the Wellcome Trust;
the President of the International Coalition of Advocates for the People;
and 2 spokespeople for the National Patient Safety Agency.

Some good news: Professor Andrzej Gorski's team has just won the first prize for the most important innovation in medicine in Poland - introduction of modern-style phage therapy  (organized by a Polish medical journal, with a selection committee of top authorities of Polish medicine).

It is heartbreaking to read about the Puttick family who jumped off Beachy Head together after their little boy Sam died of pneumococcal meningitis. It's caused by a bacterium - Streptococcus pneumoniae which is very resistant to antibiotics.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/devoted-parents-whose-grief-drove-them-to-beachy-head-1695475.html

It looks as if phage therapy is a treatment option for Georgian children - dreadful that British parents are offered no hope and have to go home to watch their child die. It is just tragic.

http://www.phagetherapycenter.com/pii/PatientServlet?command=static_strept

I don't know what else I can do about it. My MP hasn't even acknowledged receipt of my emails recently let alone replied, and the Dept of Health are just as slow to respond too.

Our regional AGM of Churchill Fellows this weekend was on a blisteringly hot afternoon in the shade of the trees beside the lake at Chichester College, (Brinsbury campus). It is a 250-hectare estate and has its own commercial farm with a dairy, beef, sheep, pig and arable enterprise. The ducks were as tame as could be, sitting at our feet as we sipped pomegranate lemonade and enjoyed delicious cakes. I was invited to summarise my Churchill Travelling Fellowship of 2007 on 'the health value of bacteriophages' and developments since then.

My colleagues were so interested that they have urged me to contact HRH Prince Charles. So today I have written and mentioned that it is taking an age to communicate this good news in the UK through standard channels in the face of considerable resistance. We do hope he would be able to offer suggestions and perhaps a few words of support.

It's amazing what you can find out by accident.

It's about some new phage therapy research at the University of Bristol to study the treatment and prevention of C.difficile.

The Ethical Review Group even explained in the minutes of their meeting just what phages are. Naturally, they have approved the application. 

The first item of this Chairman's Report gives the lowdown with the names of the researchers, committee members and Home Office staff now removed but it is extraordinary that I have the original version. Well done. The research will be done on hamsters. They are very susceptible to tummy upsets from antibiotics just like some children and the elderly so I wish the phage researchers every success.

PDF version:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/10514/response/28844/attach/12/ERG%20Minutes%2020.01.09%20(redacted).doc.pdf

HTML version:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/10514/response/28844/attach/html/12/ERG%20Minutes%2020.01.09%20(redacted).doc.pdf.html

Kim Davis and her classmates are studying bacterial viruses.
Photo by T. Stephens












At the beginning of her first quarter at UC Santa Cruz, freshman biology student Kimberly Davis collected some soil from the forest floor near Thimann Labs. She then isolated a bacterial virus from the soil, took pictures of it with an electron microscope, extracted the virus's DNA, sent it off for sequencing by the national laboratories' Joint Genome Institute, and is now analyzing the DNA sequence and studying the virus's genes.

It's all part of the Phage Genomics Lab course, in which a select group of students get to dive straight into research, while also taking the usual introductory biology lectures. Davis and her 13 classmates are making real contributions to scientific understanding of the genetic diversity of bacterial viruses (also known as bacteriophages or phages). Ultimately, they plan to publish their findings in a scientific journal.

"It's a really innovative way to learn and a great introduction to science," Davis said. "This is real research, discovering things that people don't already know, and that's really cool."

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. They are so widespread that they are thought to kill off a significant fraction of the bacteria on the planet every day, said Grant Hartzog, associate professor of molecular, cell and developmental (MCD) biology. Because of their abundance and diversity, they represent one of the largest reservoirs of genetic diversity on the planet.

"When the students isolate their own virus, they are guaranteed to find something new," Hartzog said.

Students in the class isolated phages from locations all over campus, including the Alan Chadwick Garden, the Arboretum, and the Pogonip. The phage isolated by Davis infects a benign soil bacterium (related to the tuberculosis bacterium, although it does not cause disease). She named it "Little Red Riding Hood" in recognition of its forest origins. It has a large genome for a bacteriophage, consisting of about 150,000 base pairs of DNA that encode more than 200 genes.

"It's been a lot of work. I spent a lot of my free time in the lab, but it's really fun to see the results, and knowing that we'll write a paper about it is very gratifying," Davis said. "I think most of us in the class have decided we want to continue to do scientific research."

Hartzog said the course has clearly succeeded in getting students excited and engaged in their studies. It also prepares students for research in faculty labs and provides concrete examples of many of the principles that they learn in their lecture courses.

"We want to get them involved in research as early as possible in their college careers to enrich the quality of their experience here and give them the best chance for success after they leave," Hartzog said.

The course is funded for three years by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which is sponsoring similar lab courses at 12 institutions around the country as part of the Science Education Alliance. At UCSC, Hartzog teaches the lab together with Manuel Ares, professor of MCD biology.

"It's a problem-solving class. They have a task to do and they learn by doing," Ares said.

Ares and Hartzog selected the students for the class after inviting applications from incoming freshmen with strong backgrounds in high school biology.

"When you have a curriculum that's designed to serve a very heterogeneous mix of students, the more accomplished students can end up feeling neglected. We have to work harder to keep those students engaged," Ares said. "The way most practicing scientists know facts is by the experiments that prove them, and this course provides an experimental context that is absent from most lecture classes."

The HHMI funding paid for the sequencing of only one phage genome, so Davis was thrilled when hers was chosen. Hartzog subsequently obtained a grant from the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) that paid for the sequencing of all the other phages isolated by the class.

Ares has created a web-based Phage Genome Browser that the students use to analyze the viral DNA sequences. The browser, which provides a variety of tools for studying genome sequences, is based on the widely used UCSC Genome Browser created and maintained by researchers at the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering.

"We've learned a lot about sequencing and sequence analysis. It takes awhile to realize how much information there is in the browser," said student Jessica Ruby.

Ares and Hartzog plan to build on their experiences with this course to provide similar opportunities for a larger number of students and faculty.

"The lab may eventually evolve into a series of one-quarter courses that would involve more students," Hartzog said. "We can also create other courses, such as a bioinformatics course that would focus on analyzing the novel sequence data we are acquiring. The idea is to use this as a catalyst to create other fun and interesting teaching and learning opportunities on campus."






This electron microscope image shows the bacteriophage (named "Little Red Riding Hood") that Davis isolated from soil collected from the forest floor. Photo by J. Ilagan, K. Davis and M. Jurica.

It is 80 years, give or take a day or two, since Alexander Fleming's research paper "On the antibacterial action of cultures of a Penicillium" was submitted. Our House of Commons has certainly marked the occasion with a brief debate which you can read here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2009-05-11a.657.0, no questions asked.

It features, gold and glorious, a recommendation for bacteriophage therapy!

It was duly replied to by Minister of State for Public Health Dawn Primarolo, so I have posted my comments today as follows. Enjoy.

Grace Filby: If only the Government had played its part in funding the great scientists who discovered bacteriophages. These ultra-microscopic entities which Mr Des Browne was referring to at the very end of his speech, destroy bacteria naturally. I think you will find that the current level of funding of bacteriophage therapy is extremely low (or even non-existent) as a proportion of the public money spent on infection research in the UK. The excellent human research initiatives I am aware of in the UK are privately funded.

Long before the golden age of antibiotics began, a contemporary of Fleming's was Dr F W Twort. Dr Twort had published his pioneering discovery back in December 1915 in The Lancet - nearly 100 years ago. In Twort's historic archives donated by the family to the Wellcome Trust for posterity, there is correspondence showing that bacteriophages were being used successfully for treating bacterial infections e.g. streptococcus viridans in endocarditis in 1931 and many other success stories, some of them on a large scale overseas. There is also correspondence between Fleming and Twort in London over several decades.

Yet, whereas antibiotics were soon receiving masses of media coverage worldwide, there was a neglect and 'cover-up' of bacteriophage science and therapy. Dr Twort's valiant efforts to raise the subject of the need for Government financial support with the Prime Minister, Parliament and the Establishment were thwarted over and over again. This noble doctor, professor, Fellow of the Royal Society and leading British microbiologist died in poverty and despair (1877-1950), his pioneering work and great vision largely ignored and so many opportunities lost. Yet now we know that bacteriophages have many immensely valuable applications in industry and medicine, in the environment and in bio-security - and indeed played a vital role in the discovery of DNA.

To give just one medical example: in 1961, movie star Elizabeth Taylor was given phages for staphylococcal pneumonia; 20 small vials were flown over specially from New York to the London Clinic to save her life. Yet some members of the press and scientific establishment did not publish that part of the story. Fortunately some diligent research in US publications has enabled the writing of a detailed account (see http://www.amazingphage.info).

Now in the 21st century we are only too well aware of the challenges of antibiotic resistance, allergies and the miserable adverse effects of antibiotics (sometimes fatal).

As well as celebrating the 80 years of undoubted achievement with antibiotics, I hope that the Dept of Health will now rise to these remaining challenges which cannot be ignored. Will our Ministers nobly accept their responsibility to put things right, and generously offer to fund British phage science in a spirit of international collaboration?

I hope that the great scientific institutions such as the Science Museum and the Wellcome Trust will now offer to enlighten the public about these opportunities for the future of science and medicine, perhaps as a start, alongside their prominent features on antibiotics. The educational examining boards could simply introduce bacteriophages and phage therapy into the GCSE curriculum. It is such an inspiring subject for science students, history students, art students and even maths students because they are so symmetrical and robotic in their shape yet of immense diversity in nature. As medicine, phages offer real hope to those whose infections have failed to respond to antibiotics.

Besides, research shows that it's much less expensive!

I agree with Mr Browne:

"back to the task by re-examining some of the commercial and regulatory caveats, and develop other mechanisms for disease control such as *bacteriophage* therapy."


But isn't that exactly what I was concluding in my Churchill Fellows Report in October 2007? MAYBE HE READ IT!

“Divide and rule” smirked MRSA,
As he pinched his middle and parted.
“I love my job, I’m the scourge of mankind
By my nature I make flesh black hearted.”

He had bided his time in a comfortable nose
But up there, did not feel fulfilled.
His destiny called - he must flesh out his plan
And seek out a host to be killed.

So he traded the nose for an up market wound -
A fully provisioned domain.
Where he set to consuming this tasteful des-res
With side dishes of fear and of pain.

In a far distant land, a great ocean away
A phage with a mission rehearsed.
In Phage School it learned that divide and rule yields
To: Invade - Multiply - and then BURST!

But the men of the West spurned the wit of the East
Struggled on with their MRSA.
All ego and “letters” they could not admit
That a phage might just win them the day.

Then up spoke a lady - eponymous Grace
Just not taking a “no” for an answer.
She was teacher and warrior - mind with a heart
And in rings round opponents - a dancer.

She set about banging heads lofty and large
Filled with air, rigid views and disdain.
Deceptively vulnerable, Grace worked her will
(Their defeat they could never explain!)

Thus in fullness of time the stuffed shirts gave their ground
They owned to the phage its full due.
And MRSA reached the end of the line;
Filled with phage beyond number - he blew.

copyright © 2006 Barrie Singleton

Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re recording will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Usually the news on this blog is about phage therapy - or sometimes about UV-C technology since I believe the two complement each other (UV-C technology destroys airborne and surface microbes of all sorts - bacteria, viruses and moulds). Both are great ways forward for international security and prevention of bio-terrorism.

I look forward to the day when politicians suddenly realise - Oh! what on earth are these phages? What actually is UV-C? Is there someone out there who can possibly explain the basic ideas in layman's language with simple pictures and without long words? I remember 5 years ago visiting my Member of Parliament Crispin Blunt to mention the word 'phage'. Now that he is Shadow Minister for Security and Counter Terrorism, doubtless the dedicated chapter in the MoD's forthcoming Eliava Report will be on his desk shortly.

However there are other long-term, serious health conditions that concern me, especially when they appear to be actually triggered (or dare I say, possibly 'caused') by orthodox synthetic drugs. 

Mrs Kathleen Gilderdale lives not far away in Sussex. On Thursday April 30th she was in court, charged with attempting to murder her 31year-old daughter after 17 years of suffering from ME after a routine BCG vaccination. She did not make a plea and is supported unconditionally by her family.There are various news reports and to the first of these, I successfully posted a reply. However, as with my entire main website a few weeks ago, my comment was mysteriously deleted over the weekend. So I am posting it here in the interests of Freedom of Speech.

At last I can cite a decent article about British phage therapy from the Daily Telegraph, 22nd April 2009, where consultant Professor Tony Wright is quoted:

"We did not find any side effects at all and for me it is blindingly obvious that this is the way forward for MRSA and C. difficile where there is antibiotic resistance." >

It is a "change of tune" for the paper since 2007 when their facts about phage were not so great and their editorial stance was distinctly rude in my opinion.

The photo shows Professor Tony Wright kindly demonstrating an ear examination for me during my Churchill Fellows research back in September 2007. 

Here is my official Fellows Today webpage: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/fellows-today/grace-filby.html

Fortunately we do have an eye witness account published in the Liz Taylor biography by C.David Heymann p.222. Milton Blackstone was the person who had delivered the phage medicine safely to the doctors in London from the USA. He is quoted word for word and described as having a big smirk on his face, "That miracle serum did the trick, all right". 

The biography is complete with detailed chapter notes. This on-the-spot evidence confirms the information given me by 2 physicians, 2 scientists and 1 Churchill Fellow (a retired doctor) at the House of Commons.


Here is another archive newspaper report from 1961.
The adverse effects of "chemical thrombosis" caused by the large doses of antibiotics she was given made front page news as she left hospital with a large bandage covering her left leg from her ankle almost to her knee. 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19610327&id=NuALAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KlcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3333,4749937

We are advised by a very experienced physician as follows about CHEMICAL THROMBOSIS. 

"Certain antibiotics will do this. It's quite common with erythromycin, which could have been used in those days.
Typically leg veins are not used, as they tend to thrombose, but they may have used up all her arm veins."

In the light of this evidence I am inclined to agree that the phage medicine should certainly receive at least some of the credit for her return to good health. The public are not necessarily made aware of the dangers of antibiotics such as allergies and chemical thrombosis whereas I have recent legal evidence that it does still need pointing out, even to doctors and nurses.

Undoubtedly Miss Taylor was given antibiotics. The 'official' citing of this makes no mention of the adverse effects - nor of the fact that she was also given phage therapy.  We do, after all, have an eye -witness statement that it was the phages that sure did the trick, all right. THE 20 VIALS OF PHAGE MEDICINE SHOULD CERTAINLY RECEIVE AT LEAST SOME OF THE OFFICIAL CREDIT FOR MISS TAYLOR'S RETURN TO GOOD HEALTH.

I am doing my best in trying to put the record straight about phages via this independent website blog, public talks and numerous professional associates. However I do hope in the interests of historical accuracy, that you, the Science Museum, perhaps our noble Lords and even the Wellcome Trust would now be willing to do the same.

Statistics:

'Amazing Phage - the website' is 2 years old.
It will, after all, live on for another year. 
It has been written in 3 continents,
at 5 conferences,
and 6 universities,
as far east as 2 miles from Russia
and as far west as the North West Pacific Ocean.
17 people have signed the guest book.
It has survived the rigours of 20 flights,
on 1 laptop and 8 computers.
Cost: £34.88 p.a.
Access:  Free.

It has resulted in:
a Silver Medallion, 
1 new Churchill Fellow,
1 television interview,
1 book review,
1 co-authored peer-reviewed mini-review,
1 dinner at the House of Commons,
1 lunch at Chartwell,
1 surgery,
1 physical injury,
offending remarks,
meetings at 2 Embassies,
4 newspaper articles,
5 illustrated talks,
research visits to 7 hospitals and clinics,
10 floral bouquets,
meeting 19 phage patients,
a 20 page report,
a 35 minute radio interview,
50 videos on YouTube,
(and one of these is up to 615,504 views),
meeting the son of phage discoverer FW Twort,
meeting the great-grandson of phage discoverer Felix d'Herelle,
meeting 2 people who state that phage therapy has saved their life,
11 newspaper articles about movie star Elizabeth Taylor having life-saving phage therapy,
only 1 newspaper article where the author had thought it was methicillin that saved her life,
finding an eye witness account from Milton Blackstone: "That miracle serum did the trick, all right"
Hundreds of  photographs,
Thousands of emails,

1 miserable funding rejection by the Wellcome Trust
0 phages displayed yet in any science, medical or historical museums,
0 words on Wikipedia 
0 partridges in pear trees.

1 special visit to Monty's Hideout "Battle HQ" in Reigate.
(Field Marshal General Montgomery's troops found phages in captured German medical kits in WW2).

23 APRIL 1945 (exactly 64 years ago) acquisition of Operation James Bond book.

1 photograph of  the house in Reigate where General Eisenhower was stationed in WW2.

Sir Winston Churchill's barber lived 1 minute's walk from here at the top of Howard Road in Reigate.

1 more wartime mystery: Martin Bormann's  "doppleganger" double lived in Wray Common Road, Reigate and was buried 27 June 1989 in Redstone Cemetery. The grave is marked with his original name - not his assumed name.

and finally, the promise of a copy of the brand new Eliava Bacteriophage Report straight from the Ministry of Defence. THANK YOU.

Two years ago I created this website with a ready-made package so that I could easily update it from any computer on my travels overseas.

Now this month Mr Site are running a competition for unusual websites so I have droppped them a line today about Amazing Phage.

If you need a website check out www.mrsite.com. Everything you need to set up a professional dot com website (eg www.yourname.com) in a box. No technical knowledge is needed and it includes email, your own secure online shop, guest book, blog, hosting, support and more.

Although I don't have an online shop, here's a w.w.w. simple way to save money.
If you visit www.mrsite.co.uk/friends and type in the code 25864-FRIENDS you can get a discount on all the packages (25% off Beginner, 20% off Standard and 15% off Pro).

We now have 11 newspaper pdfs and two books confirming that Liz Taylor's pneumonia in 1961 was cured by SPL bacteriophages, not antibiotics.

And here it is stated in black and white. In the book: "Liz An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor" by David C. Heyman, Samuel Leve, a stage designer declares:

Here is another piece of the jigsaw puzzle about the use of SPL for humans sent to me from a physician in the USA.

He points out that this issue is not being presented accurately. 
The FDA investigation of his use of SPL beginning on or about 1/20/04 lasted one week.  The lack of 7 informed consents (those records weren't transferred when he moved his office from one building, owned by McCready Hospital, to another, free-standing practice) and lack of a registry of lot numbers of human SPL were the only deficiencies found. He submitted an IND on 11/8/03 to the FDA with full approval from the parent company; he had IRB approval. He comments that SPL worked beautifully to raise VEGF which nothing else did.  No
action was required on his part.  No punishment was meted out.

I am not a doctor so I can only guess that the acronyms are:

IND: Investigational New Drug Application
IRB: Institutional Review Board
VEGF: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Isn't it a crazy world where something works beautifully but we don't use it? Anyway this is one of the books about Liz Taylor that confirms she had lifesaving SPL phage treatment in 1961. Along with all our newspaper evidence I think this far outweighs the claim in one New York Times article, then cited in a book on antibiotics and a Wellcome Trust article that it was antibiotics that did the trick. Those claims would need to be substantiated with some hard evidence rather than just a journalist's opinion over in New York. Anyway, they would say that, wouldn't they? The article was all about promoting a pharmaceutical company's synthetic drugs rather than providing a balanced account of what really happened.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.K.

Fair skinned people are at higher risk of developing skin cancer.

The number of cases of skin cancer in the UK is estimated at over 100,000 each year. More than 9,500 cases were reported for malignant melanoma in 2005.

Over 2,300 people die from skin cancer each year in the U.K.

Malignant melanoma is the second most common cancer in young adults aged 15-34 in the UK.

Malignant melanoma is more than twice as common in young women up to age 34 as in young men, but more men die from it.

Malignant melanoma incidence rates have quadrupled since the early 1970s.

There are more skin cancer deaths in the UK than Australia (CRUK press release 2003), even though Australia has more cases of the disease.

Source: RAFT
The Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust  www.raft.ac.uk






 A basal cell carcinoma BCC diagnosed Nov 07, Dermatology Institute TX





Now what can be done about it? I learned yesterday on my visit to The RAFT Institute that INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C is being studied as a treatment option for malignant melanoma because it's toxic to cancer cells. I also learned that youngsters in Scotland are spending their lunch money on slot machine sun lamp treatments. Seasonal affective symptoms if you ask my opinion - desperate for some vitamin D or a holiday to cheer themselves up in the long dull winters. And I learned about the quantity of sun cream recommended by the manufacturer - the amount is 2mg/cm2 and its efficacy is decreased when rubbed in. People actually apply 4 times less, so the formula needs changing. It would be so much more sensible if people just stay out of the midday sun (11am-3pm) and start wearing sun hats again.

May I just add a few words from my Churchill Fellows research report 2007 - The Health Value of Bacteriophages, page 10.

"In September 2007 in Wroclaw, the Polish Pharmacological Society heard from Prof. Andrzej Gorski about research investigating the oncological and immunological interactions of phages with higher organisms. This science is uniquely based on some inspiring observations that pieces of lung tissue bathed in HAP1 phages (lovely name!) had significantly less melanoma. The effect is clearly visible in photographs. The scientists state that the effect of phages is immunological. The research publications prove that, under well-defined circumstances, phages can have anti-metastatic activity (anti-cancer/anti-tumour)."

The bit about phages is the last item on this clip - 5:56 to 9:09.

The first part of the seminar is online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNu_JCxjdjc

Friday 13 March 2009

THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER to the Customer Service Centre at the Department of Health for your information and entertainment.


Dear Mr A....

As you know I wrote to Mr Gordon Brown in February about an important and
urgent matter, cc'ing it to Sir Liam Donaldson's and Mr Alan Johnson's
private offices.

However, your reply to me this week on their collective behalf contained
some scientific inaccuracies and false assumptions which need to be put
right.

Since it is National Science and Engineering Week and I am an event
organiser and ambassador for this national and innovative programme, I am
taking the time to clarify for you exactly what these inaccuracies and false
assumptions are. It is my intention that you and your colleagues at the Dept
of Health will be better informed and illuminated about the basic science.



1. You wrote:

"With regard to ventilation systems,
I should explain that hospitals do use specialised air filtration systems in
cases where airborne transmission is thought to be important."

For your information:
The most common filter used in the NHS is HEPA.

In reply please note the following points:

*     Filters do not filter viruses. The efficiency of HEPA is often
highlighted but in reality HEPA are inherently inefficient @ 0.01%. In a
normal ventilation system the HEPA filter is challenged with 10,000
particles 0.1 - 0.3 micron / cubic foot every minute assuming normal
airflows the HEPA will allow 10,000 particles / minute or 1,4400,000
particles  every 24 hours.

*     HEPA filters will not trap viruses which are .027 microns. Norovirus,
Influenza, TB. HEPA will only trap some bacteria, not all, so what about
protection from MRSA and other bacteria that HEPA can't fully protect
against?

*     HEPA is only used in specialist patient areas not the whole hospital,
so what about general bio-security in hospitals? At this point, it is
non-existent.


2. You wrote:

"In such systems, the dilution of pathogens in the air and controlling
airflow into or out of a room are mechanisms for reducing infection risk.
This can be important in the protection of highly vulnerable patients
('airborne protective isolation'), and the protection of staff and visitors
inside an isolation room or of other patients, staff and visitors outside
('airborne source isolation'). Ventilation systems can be set up to control
directions of airflow and dilution of airborne pathogens. There are also
portable systems that recirculate air within a given space. By means of
filtration, ultraviolet light or other methods of killing or trapping
micro-organisms, these systems can reduce airborne levels of pathogens but
cannot, by these means alone, control airflow into or out of a room."

In reply please note the following points:

*     UVC is NOT generally used in NHS hospitals, so your assumption about
its use in this limited area is largely incorrect.

*      The problem of effective infection control should be seen as a
hospital-wide issue and the potential use of such technologies as UVC should
be viewed as best engineering practice as a catch all technology for the
whole hospital, not just specialist areas. This is possible now with large
industrial size systems that offer prophylactic protection for all building
occupants including NHS staff.

*      Currently there seems to be a huge resistance to the use of UVC
technology that has proven clinical benefits of significantly reducing all
infections including HCAIs.

3. You wrote:

"However, I should point out that airborne transmission is probably not the
main transmission route for most HCAIs. The use of air filtration is only
one component of a strategy to reduce infection rates."

In reply please note the following points:

*      UVC should not just be seen as another insignificant air filtration
method. It will kill any virus, bacteria and mould making it superior to
current preventative methods.

*     In addition, UVC breaks the cycle of mutation and should be seen as a
major technology in the development of new antibiotics against the further
mutation of bacteria such as Panton Valentine Leukocidin, MRSA &
C.Difficile. On top of this, it is the only technology that will effectively
kill Norovirus that shuts so many NHS wards during winter months.

*     Studies contradict your assumption.
http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/releases/mrsaamoeba280206.html

*    The Royal College of Nursing contradict your assumption.
http://www.e-co.uk.com/infectioncontrol.pdf

*     Leading academics contradict your assumption.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article418262.ece

The latest iterations of UVC not only clean the air that passes them but
also the occupied space and surfaces 24/7.

I shall make no further comment to you about bacteriophages since I have
devoted a whole website to the subject, have researched independently
overseas through the generosity of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and
others, and I have spoken publicly whereas the DoH have, they are "afraid to
say", been repeating themselves tediously on the subject for several years
with no further outcome or advance.

Please note I shall be publishing this reply online with the exception of
your identity.

Yours sincerely

Grace Filby BA(Hons) Cert Ed FRSA
Churchill Fellow
Science and Engineering Ambassador
01737 217013

Six weeks ago I wrote about the evidence that Staphage Lysate was flown over to London in 1961, in an emergency dash to save the life of actress Elizabeth Taylor from staphylococcal pneumonia.

Now I can highlight another heart-warming story about a young man of 27 in Oklahoma City with autism who has also benefited greatly from Staphage Lysate, as a child. Stephen's mother Mary Ann Puckett, is, like me, an educator and advocate who has pioneered a way through the disability system to guide others and raise awareness. She comments here on Amazing Phage:

'In the 1980's he was having constant reoccurring infections. An elderly neighbor told me about an antibacterial injection that she had been given in the 1950's called Staphage Lysate for infections and she was cured. I was able to get in touch with the wife of the Dr. who had used SL. and she told me it was a miracle drug. She gave me the name of the lab where it was ordered from: Delmont Labs. I had my son's doctor call and inquire about SL. Stephen's doctor then ordered a vial of SL and began treatment with him. He was immediately off of antibiotics and his overall health greatly improved. I was very sorry to see it taken off the market because autistic children have a common thread of immune deficiencies.'

In fact, Mary has written on autism: a narrative of her son's life from birth to age 23. In the book called 'Take Him Home and Love Him/ A Story of Autism and How to Cope with It' she shares information on Staphage Lysate and how it was a life saver for her son Stephen. She also gives a brief history of its use in the 1950's. The book is available on eBay and Amazon.com as well as on her website. She has medical doctors endorsing the book and the response to it around the world has been very rewarding. Mary specifically put information in the book about SPL because she wants others to be aware that it is out there, even though it is currently only available for use with dogs. She wrote in the book that she hopes the medical community will take a second look at the benefits of SPL and question why it was put on hold. She additionally contacted the doctor at Delmont Labs in Swarthmore, PA to discuss why it was not longer available. He told Mary that Delmont is a small lab and the FDA was putting so much pressure on him to do more research that he had to pull it for human use because the cost would be so prohibitive.

Here is a 4 page document from July 2008 that I hadn't seen before, called New Anti-Infectives and published by POST. This is an office of both Houses of Parliament, charged with providing independent and balanced analysis of public policy issues that have a basis in science and technology.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/postpn311.pdf

There are some hard-edged statistics:

"There is concern that the incidence of infections is often underestimated, sometimes by a significant margin. World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show that in 2002, infectious diseases caused 70,300 deaths in the UK (12% of all deaths). It is estimated that each year:

• Respiratory infections cause 35,167 deaths.

• There are at least 300,000 HCAIs, implicated in 20,000 deaths.

• There are 5-25,000 deaths due to seasonal flu.

• 35% of GP consultations are due to an infection.

• 20% suffer from an intestinal infectious disease.

• 150,000 are admitted to hospital due to infection."

I found some other shockers:

Academic research is funded through three major sources: the EU, the UK government and medical charities.
Of this, 12% is targeted on infectious disease research.

With the medical charities e.g. Wellcome, "Of £64 million spent on health research in 2006, only 3% was on infections." Yes, THREE PER CENT.


And here is a little speck of hope!

In Box 4 - Novel treatment approaches, I found this (unreferenced) item.

"Bacteriophages - these are viruses that infect and kill bacteria, but their clinical efficacy and safety remain unproven despite sustained interest over many years. The use of bacteriophage-derived enzymes to clear infections also holds promise."

I think I will send them my letter to Mr Brown.

Have you seen the new Polish paper published January 2009?

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000193293


The Potential of Phage Therapy in Bacterial Infections of the Eye
by Andrzej Górski, Magdalena Targoska, Jan Borysowski and Beata Weber-Dabrowska

Abstract:

Antibiotic resistance has become a major health challenge which poses a significant threat, also in ophthalmology. For example, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus may cause dramatic complications, including bilateral blindness as a consequence of orbital cellulitis and panophthalmitis. This menace has provoked a greatly revived interest in phage therapy. In recent years, a number of papers have been published suggesting its efficacy in animal and human bacterial infections, but none of them addressed the phage potential in ophthalmology, which is the subject of this mini review.

Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

A two year hospital study evaluated the effectiveness of some air purification technology on airborne and surface transmitted diseases such as MRSA. The figures speak for themselves! 

All the UK managed with its various strategies was 33% - but the NHS technical guidelines for looking at the ventilation urgently need updating in my opinion. 33 + 39 = ?

13 February 2009


Dear Mr Brown

During your Labour leadership campaign, you emphasised cracking down on corruption.

You stated that the NHS was your top priority, yet in June 2007 you cut the capital budget of the English NHS from £6.2bn to £4.2bn. The FT forecasted at the time that this "could delay the government’s hospital building and reconfiguration programme in England."

As a result of some lengthy FOI research I have discovered that:

^"Routine bacteriological testing of ventilation systems is not a requirement under NHS technical guidance."

Ref: Directorate of Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 27.1.09.

This simple statement explains why we still have MRSA, C.difficile, Norovirus, influenza and mould-induced symptoms circulating freely in our hospitals, office buildings, public buildings, leisure centres, schools and transport systems. Yet they could all be prevented by US-Government recommended UV-C technology. The UK handwashing campaign programme is hopelessly inadequate and even with the other measures taken, the figures have only reduced by about 33%. Please be advised that the germs are also in recycled air. This fact has been overlooked. Apart from the serious implications for patients, there are health and safety risks to all NHS employees.

Fortunately for this Government and thereafter, physical/natural science and engineering can put things right at relatively low cost and in a sustainable way, alongside the orthodox chemicals/drugs approach. It is essential that the NHS technical guidance is overhauled.

Hence, you would be able to fulfill a commitment you made in an Ask the PM video:  (10.9.08)

"We will continue to make sure that everything we do is designed so that if you have to go to hospital then you will find that that hospital is clean and it makes you feel secure."

There is also new evidence that the peer review system for independent scientific research and public engagement has become corrupted. http://www.amazingphage.info/page6.htm#36324
I trust that your departmental chiefs would like to know more.

Meanwhile I thank you that the Ministry of Defence is heading up the G8 priority Eliava report which is to be published soon, formally acknowledging the health value of bacteriophages in preventing and treating infections. I hope that this science will soon be applied in other areas in the UK, such as bio-security and the environment. With regard to the NHS budget, there would be a huge saving if serious consideration was given to data from the Polish Academy of Sciences. Phage treatment of MRSA patients is a small fraction of the cost of antibiotics.


Yours sincerely





Grace Filby

Here's a reminder of the Amazing Phage photo galleries - I took them off the main menu for a while.
You can request the password via the CONTACT page. Please note that all the photos are copyright and are not to be used in any format without my permission.


United Kingdom:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page2.htm

North America:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page3.htm

Georgia:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page4.htm

Poland:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page5.htm

Eliava Institute:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page10.htm

Military Hospital:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page11.htm

PTC:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page12.htm

Evergreen:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page13.htm

Warsaw phages:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page16.htm

Wroclaw phages:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page17.htm

Warsaw:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page18.htm

Wroclaw:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page19.htm

Gnomes:
http://www.amazingphage.info/page20.htm

You remember that rejected funding application to travel about over the next three years doing illustrated talks about bacteriophages and other technologies?

Well, as promised, here's that anonymised feedback from real enlightened scientists, physicians and members of the public about the Wellcome Trust's "Public Engagement" funding peer review process:

"Do NOT give up! We have to move ahead, against all odds!"


"The peer scoring and comment seem biased towards smearing the use of phage therapy!
Wellcome must have gotten their hand stuck in the Fleming-think honey pot."

I am pleased to announce a forthcoming book on phage therapy in French, by Dr Alain Dublanchet , our associate in Paris: Viruses for combatting infections.

    
   

  


   Phage therapy -
   renewal of a treatment to help antibiotics?


           www.geephage.org

                           There is already an online article about Dr Dublanchet's work here:

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdbloud.free.fr%2Finflama.htm&sl=fr&tl=en&history_state0=&swap=1

Thanks for your help with all the background research. Since the Wellcome funding application to do illustrated talks in the UK was unsuccessful, they have now sent a third anonymous peer review that was initially kept secret! This so-called expert opinion was by a senior scientist working in virology and bacteriophage, insisting that there is no health value of bacteriophages.

I am very grateful for the huge wave of support by email and phone. I shall anonymise some of this feedback and ensure that the Wellcome Trust have a measure of the strength of feeling.

Text: http://www.relax-well.co.uk/Filby%20r...

Published today by the Filby Association - the 2009 Chronicle.

Friday 13th on a beautiful summer’s day in London will always evoke special memories after an occasion in June, 2008, that was a great privilege and honour to attend.

It would be another few weeks before we would know who was to be the VIP in 2008. The previous ceremony in 2006 was at Buckingham Palace and the presentations were made by Her Majesty The Queen. This year, we learned, it was to have been Prince William, but the Royal Navy had other plans for him chasing pirates in the Caribbean, so the announcement was that the medallions were to be presented by Lady Soames – what could be more fitting? Mary Soames is the youngest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill. This was very significant to me for several reasons. My first official talk was booked for her birthday in September (also Battle of Britain Day and Prince Harry’s birthday). Also Lady Soames is about the same age as my parents. I had found from my archive research into 20th century medical history that Mary was born just after the time that phage therapy had been discovered!

It was time to go. In a moment’s reflection in the courtyard, a limousine arrived for Lady Soames. Back in Surrey what could be more welcome than a nice cup of tea and a chance to look at the Silver Medallion - another item for the family's box of treasures. It is made at the Royal Mint. The satin-lined box is engraved with "Winston Churchill Memorial Trust" and the medallion itself - "2007 GRACE FILBY". The reverse is heavily embossed with Sir Winston Churchill’s distinctive profile and his weighty words "WITH OPPORTUNITIES COMES RESPONSIBILITY".

October 2nd 2009 has been designated as the first World MRSA Day  by Chicago-based MRSA Survivors Network founded by Jeanine Thomas.

It was on that date in 1960 that a methicillin-resistant strain of staphylococcus aureus was first seen through the microscope, by Patricia Jevons at the Public Health Laboratories in Colindale, London. 

The first samples had been sent there for identification from a hospital in Guildford, Surrey, taken from a patient with eczema and a nurse.

Within a few days, at nearby Queen Mary's Hospital for Sick Children in Carshalton, the children were also becoming infected, with a Queen Mary's strain. Over the next 14 months they had already had 75 children infected. 55 of these were newborn babies.  It was here - at the largest children's hospital in the country, that there was the first MRSA fatality, in June 1962. Born with spina bifida, a boy became infected with the resistant germ after surgery, resulting in septicaemia. It proved fatal.

Nearly fifty years later, MRSA has spread worldwide and fatalies are commonplace.

Methicillin was first created in the Beecham laboratories at Betchworth - also in Surrey, and just a short drive away from Guildford and Carshalton.

The hope of “World MRSA Day” is to bring people together every year to remind them of those who have lost their lives or have diminished health because of a preventable disease. By working together, whether as an advocate, scientist, healthcare worker, policy maker, student, caregiver or a patient living with MRSA we can collectively heighten the awareness and educate others on prevention.

To help provide education and awareness, a variety of events, exhibits, materials, candlelight vigils and commemoration programs are being planned and will be announced later.

Here in the UK I am offering talks and presentations as a Science & Engineering Ambassador so please get in contact if your group or organisation would like a speaker.  I do slide shows and videos too as long as you can provide a projector and someone to do the IT stuff, and can help out with expenses.

Several reliable US medical sources had told me in 2007 that Elizabeth Taylor was treated with phages for staphylococcus pneumonia during the filming of 'Cleopatra'. 

A British doctor (another Churchill Fellow) also volunteered the information at dinner at the House of Commons, so it seemed the right thing to check it out! Many thanks to a Californian physician for meeting up again here in Reigate and researching some US newspaper archives.

It is today, a great pleasure to announce some details and documentary evidence of this exciting life-saving story. It certainly sounds like a dramatic turnaround. The best bit is saved for the end of this news item .....

It was early spring, 1961, in London. It can still be very cold at that time of year. I imagine that if the film crew were all stuck indoors in the studio there was not much chance for fresh air and sunlight to keep the germs away. Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, Eddie Fisher, were staying at the Dorchester Hotel.

On Friday 3rd March, the 29-year old star fell ill with a severe attack of staphylococcal pneumonia. The news immediately hit the international press and the New York Times reported that she was put in an oxygen tent at the hotel, and transferred to the London Clinic by ambulance with her husband, two physicians and 3 nurses.

By the evening of Saturday 4th March, her breathing was so bad that surgery was necessary - she had a tracheotomy and was put on an electronic lung. The medical statement for the press was signed by Lord Evans (Queen Elizabeth II's honorary physician) and two other physicians: "Her condition remains grave." This latest news was again reported in the New York Times. On the Sunday she was reported as "not out of danger as yet".

Meanwhile, a woman in New Jersey wrote immediately by special delivery airmail, to Liz Taylor's London physician: Dr Carl Heinz Goldman.  She wanted to let him know that she had previously been treated successfully for severe staphylococcal pneumonia by her US physician, Dr Salmon, a pediatric allergist, who had all the details of the treatment. So her one letter and prompt action were sufficient to put the two key people in contact.

On Monday 6th March, on its receipt, Dr Salmon was telephoned twice by Eddie Fisher, and at noon, by Dr Goldman himself. He explained that it was called SPL - Staphage Lysate -  in other words - Staph(ylococcus) (Bacterio)Phage Lysate. Phage had been produced in Europe and the US for a number of years. SPL was produced under supervision of Theodore Purnell, associate professor of education and science at Pennsylvania Military College. Dr Salmon had been using it with patients, mostly children, for 8 years, mostly when antibiotics were not effective against staphylococcus.

Dr Goldman requested two variations of the drug plus a combination of both. Dr Salmon's comment to the press was: "We could have ordered a supply of the drug from the manufacturer but there wasn't time. We saved precious time by using our own stock." It was arranged that 20 vials, each of one cubic centimetre, would be flown to London immediately.

Eddie Fisher's agent, Milton Blackstone, flew with the SPL phage medicine from Philadelphia International Airport to New York Idlewild Airport then by jet to London on the Monday night.

While this was taking place on the Monday, Elizabeth Taylor was given a blood transfusion for anaemia. Her strength ebbed. The medical opinion was "We are very worried". That night there were two doctors in the sick room, plus her husband and her parents.

On the morning of Tuesday 7th March, there was a bedside meeting of the full medical team - 6 doctors. That evening, the staph phage was given - either by injection or nasally by aerosol.

By the very next evening of Wednesday 8th March, one of the doctors Dr Victor Hatner told reporters that the patient was "vastly improved"! The official bulletin stated "Her condition is greatly improved and gives less cause for anxiety".

The drama was over - thanks to the SPL phage - or was it?

A week later, a follow up article was published in the New York Times about the need for cures for Staphylococcal infections such as Elizabeth Taylor's. Strangely, it doesn't mention the SPL. Instead the writer states that it was a synthetic drug, "Staphcillin" (methicillin) that had been "finally created late 1960" at the Beecham Labs, Betchworth, Surrey, just down the road here near Reigate, and it was this that saved her life.

Now we have an interesting situation. If Elizabeth Taylor did also receive a course of this synthetic drug, then was the dramatic and immediate turnaround in events over just one night - 7th March - the result of the action of the SPL, or of the methicillin, or both? 

The fact is that SPL had cured the anonymous American woman from New Jersey, long before the new synthetic drug was created.

Another fact is that SPL was FDA-approved for human use until the 1990s - and remains in veterinary use for dogs!

Thirdly, phages are known for their rapid effects in successful treatment, because they self-replicate until the offending germ is gone. In contrast, treatment with synthetic drugs is usually over a course of several days or weeks.

There is also the possibility that one or more of the news articles were not entirely accurate.

So we are not completely sure whether the synthetic drug or the SPL phage, or both, were what saved Elizabeth Taylor but we can ponder over it.

The event has become legendary, to such an extent that Robert Bud, curator of the Science Museum, when writing about antibiotic resistance in a 2005 Wellcome publication, stated: "Famously, the life of the actress Elizabeth Taylor was rescued after she was treated for staphylococcal pneumonia". Maybe it was just an assumption that it was methicillin?

It is worth noting that twenty years later, by May 1981, Liz Taylor had by that time had four bouts of pneumonia. Suffering from a throat infection whilst performing in the stage production "The Little Foxes", she and her two doctors Wilbur Gould and Michael A Rosenbluth were quoted in the New York Times as saying that she was allergic to antibiotics. It is reassuring to know that phage medicines are still available to this day.

Anyway, now we have verification that phage had a very significant part to play in 1961, along with all the men and women (and the animals, and the ultra-microscopic) in the epic list of characters. 

Here is the website for the SPL manufacturers: http://www.delmont.com/product.htm.  They kept that quiet, didn't they?   

© 2009 Grace Filby


Video: Cleopatra bathes in phages - 1963

Why are governments and international committees still huffing and puffing over huge looming potential disasters from deadly pathogen contamination, intentional or accidental?

Why do employers put up with vastly expensive sickness absence every winter from seasonal infections and epidemics when they could be simply preventing them instead?

It is so frustrating when the answers are already here. Today I was sent an article about E.coli phages. 
Anyone would think from the title and the abstract that it is about

You'll find most of my new phage mini videos on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/pinknonsense.

This one is rather special. Here's Tony Smithyman's talk on Phage Therapy in the 21st Century: it's in three parts of about 10 minutes each.

Here are some video clips of the Republic of Georgia showing the life-saving work of Dr. Guram Gvasalia.


Child care - newborns, ear infections, throat infections

A burns patient

A stomach infection patient

An MRSA osteomyelitis patient

These are two of my own new video clips:

An MRSA sinusitis patient

Military Hospital

Isn't this fun, whilst delivering the message? Please pass it on.

Now are you sitting comfortably?

There are lots of young girls all over the world who have had to face the needle in the arm with this cervical cancer jab (Gardasil in the USA and Cervarix in the UK).  I was quietly getting on with my phage projects, preparing to give talks and pulling together those loose ends with the exciting historical research and wondering what to do with all that video footage.

But a couple of weeks ago an alarm bell rang in my ears when I was reading the local newspaper.

It was a news item about the UK cervical cancer HPV vaccination campaign, and there, right in the middle of it, was this statement - completely unreferenced!  "the vaccine itself is safe, with no serious side effects reported..."

So since then I have been doing a lot more investigating, folks!   It is a tangled tale of mystery and perhaps (not my word) 'deception' - time will tell.  But what concerns me is that the truth needs to be told, not glossed over with political 'spin'.

The story is developing rapidly, so here is my latest news release, also just published on Medical News Today, so it will be seen by a very wide audience. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here, or on that site, or both. Thank you.


 ------------------------------------------------------------

Cervical cancer vaccine: ‘dangers mean more research is needed‘


An independent health researcher is calling on the government for more research into the possible side-effects of the cervical cancer vaccine that is currently being given to teenage girls throughout the country.

Grace Filby, who won a Churchill Fellowship for her research into phage therapy, believes that not enough is known about the effects of the vaccine on children with pre-existing medical conditions and with weakened immune systems from their existing medication.

Grace, of Reigate, Surrey, said: “We simply do not know whether the vaccine interacts with other medication or medical conditions, and the manufacturers have not studied it yet. This could be a very valid reason why some families and schools might hesitate or opt out."


She has this week written to UK education ministers and health officials calling for urgent small-scale independent studies that would highlight any health problems stemming from vaccinations already carried out.

Grace, who has years of experience teaching innovative science and special educational needs projects, said: “Whilst many schools are awaiting their first vaccine injections, there are opportunities to provide valuable information and guidance to parents and pupils concerned about side effects from Cervarix, the cancer vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline.”


She suggested a study of attendance records at St Monica's High School in Lancashire, where school governors have reported that  a number of girls were either absent from school following their vaccination or had to be sent home suffering from dizziness, nausea, joint pain, headaches or high temperature.

She also suggested a study of any side-effects at the Royal Alexandra and Albert state boarding school in Reigate, Surrey, where Year 8 girls had their first jabs on Friday 26 September, the same day that the school hosted BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? A response on Any Answers? points out the additional risks of vaccinations to some children, e.g. with epilepsy in the family, on their doctor's advice.


"With schools taking so much responsibility in this massive vaccination programme," said Grace Filby, " The Department for Children, Schools and Families could be making a valuable contribution to the debate by facilitating a couple of simple, independent studies. I have written to both schools with the suggestion, and I do hope the education ministers will help by giving it their blessing."

And just to be on the safe side, I  have sent it to the Prime Minister, so we shall see if he reads it this time!

PS Researcher Mike Jozefiak's findings on Gardasil are here: http://www.deepwide.co.uk/Gardasil.html

and Andrew Lansley MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, has written to say that he is afraid that he doesn't agree with me about the vaccine programme against HPV.

This is a 2 minute video so that you have a flavour of the first Amazing Phage talk here in my home town of Reigate on 15th September - the anniversary of Battle of Britain Day. There were 40 people in the audience. I have had to give up on the film 'Amazing Phage - the Scientists and the Patients' since I have only seen it once just 36 hours before, and it would need some considerable expertise to deliver the correct messages.  So you will see - I provided an exhibition of treasures from my travels, the slide show '80 days in 8 minutes' (except I think it was even faster than that), 'Phages on the Battlefield' as delivered to the British Embassy in Washington DC and to the Ministry of Defence and my MP's assistant, a Big Red Scrapbook,  a talk starring MRSA in a smart gold box with bright red shiny ribbon, a bucket and a sparkling white old-fashioned mop containing a T4 phage in its purple and black camouflage uniform - and the crowning glory, my next door neighbour's RAF hat from 1942, as worn in the Cabinet War Rooms underground, then as shorthand typist to Churchill's daughter Sarah doing secret work on bombing maps, out in the countryside and fresh air. She had polished the brass badge specially. This mini-video also finishes with the vital words of phage discoverer, F.W.Twort, since his 1941 message to Churchill didn't get through at the time: stating that the situation "MUST BE PUT RIGHT".  

What better place than just beside Field Marshall Montgomery's secret South East Command HQ during WW2 and also just a couple of miles away from the European HQ of the well-known company, Pfizer? Monty was the guy who had the massive wartime success in North Africa (and phage kits were found on the enemy troops). Churchill himself enabled Pfizer and their shareholders to do very well over the years. Shame about the rest of us but at least we know about phages now, thanks to Twort and Mitchiner and other local people here in Reigate.

The outstanding piano playing of "Somewhere over the rainbow" at the beginning of this video is by our young local musical genius, Derek Paravacini and with kind permission of Evangelos Himonides. Derek is famous internationally for his great gift, even though he is blind and autistic. I hope you will show your appreciation accordingly and leave a message in the guest book or in the comments box below, or on the YouTube page.

That's all for now, folks.

I would like to thank all the people who have signed the Guest Book and have left a message. The latest one is from Eman Kamel:

This 5-page scientific paper from Poland contains some very worthwhile reading.

Bacteriophage therapy in children - Facts and prospects

MRSA or Phage Therapy? A commentary about work taking place healing patients in Poland, and then a scientific gathering in Edinburgh. The music is from Swan Lake - full of phages.

Did you know?

1. Josef Stalin and the Red Army were all in favour of phages.

2. The Pulitzer-prize-winning novel 'Arrowsmith' was inspired by phage therapy.

3. The blockbuster movie 'Arrowsmith' was inspired by phage therapy.

4. Adolf Hitler had a course of phage therapy - starting on his birthday! Was it a gift?

5. Movie star Elizabeth Taylor had life-saving phage therapy in March 1961 for pneumonia - the unfolding drama was reported numerous times in the US news press but 'covered up' immediately afterwards in the NYT. For evidence see this blog entry for 12 Jan 09.

6. The President of Georgia, Mikhael Saakashvili states he has had phage therapy - and he also states it cured a relative of his with gangrene.

7. Number Ten Downing Street has it on record about phage therapy.

8. The staircase at Amazing Phage HQ was built by Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber.

9. There is a Phage University Psalm 23 (circa 1950):

Delbruck is my shepherd, I shall not err.
He leadeth me beside the right theory.
He maketh me to lie down in his ideas.
He restoreth my doubt.
He leadeth me in the paths of research.
For his name's sake.
Yea tho' I walk thru' the valley of the shadow of math, I shall fear no mistake,
Thy physics and thy calculus they comfort me.
Thou preparest my data in the face of thy enemies, thou annointest my plate with phage, my titer runneth over.
Surely precision and accuracy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the Hall of Fame forever.

10. Phage is advocated in ancient literature: Hinduism, Islam and the Bible.

Yes, this is about phage therapy -
here's the music and the lyrics .

Wish please.



Thank you!

In this NHS birthday party video, the Prime Minister says some good things! 

But of course there isn't even a mention of hospital infections. We can only assume that any patients with MRSA or C.diff weren't invited to the party!


Watch out though - right at the very end, he says:

"....FIFTEEN BILLION pounds that we are spending in the next ten years to the cures to some of the most difficult-to-deal-with diseases, including cancer. I think it is very important that we make medical advances in Britain and show that we are really at the top of the scientific community."

Well, that is going to be a complete waste of money unless they do read the BMJ article I sent the other day, and start investing some of that £15 BILLION into phages and other alternatives to antibiotics, to prevent cancer in the first place. And they need to tell the pig farmers too.

Published 21 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1381
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1381

News

Antibiotics may be linked to risk of cancer

The risk of developing prostate, breast, lung, and colon cancer rises with use of antibiotics, a large observational study has found (International Journal of Cancer 2008 Aug 14, doi: 10.1002/ijc.23622).

The risk of less common cancer has also been linked with antibiotic use. The study shows that the risk of being diagnosed with non-melanoma skin, duodenum, pancreas, kidney, bladder, male genitals (excluding prostate), and thyroid cancers as well as myeloma and leukaemia, was more than 1.5 times more among participants with six or more antibiotic prescriptions, compared with the group with lowest exposure.

"Findings suggest that antibiotic use, especially repeated prescriptions, is associated with increased risk of cancer," say the researchers, whose study is based on more than three million people and more than 100 000 cases.

Health webchat with Ann Keen

Local water companies don't test for phages in our tap water. It's a 'free for all' in our bathing water and drinking water - the phage content isn't regulated or monitored.



Full marks to Sutton and East Surrey Water plc for  answering a question within one working day.



The Environment Agency states in a 2008 science report about sewage risks (page 20) that bacteriophages ( ) are harmless.


So it's official, with the geographers making it nice and simple, just as we were saying all along.

Here's the reference: 'Sewage risks to urban groundwater':
www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/08/16/06/Sewage%20risks%20science%20report.pdf

Here is a short item about phages from Australia's National Nine News.

The conference was really good. I didn't understand most of it but there was an introduction by Prof. A. Gorski about phage therapy (in Poland their clinic welcomes patients with antibiotic resistant infections - and they are in the EU), and I managed to video an excellent presentation by Tony Smithyman from Australia who incidentally has just won a cash award. Meanwhile my little contribution was three copies of my new article about FW Twort - and a few words to everyone at the end of the after-dinner speeches.
Here's the first news item after the conference. If your poster or talk is not mentioned in this following press release, (or you would like to recommend one) please feel welcome to post a comment at the end.

First Phage Biotech Conference Creates Interest in New Trade Body

Region : All

The first international phage biotechnology conference, held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, is expected to lead to the formation of an International Phage Society and trade body to represent the interests of a wide variety of scientists, clinicians and biotechnology businesses working with bacteriophages. These organisations would represent and promote the interests of members in areas such as regulatory affairs, funding, and raising commercial and public awareness of these smallest forms of life.

Bacteriophages are viruses which only infect bacteria, and recently an explosion of interest in their use for a variety of medical and industrial applications has occurred. For example, phage therapy uses phages to kill bacteria resistant to antibiotics, such as MRSA in hospital infections and listeria on foodstuffs.

Initiated by Edinburgh firm Big DNA Ltd, which is developing vaccines which use bacteriophages as their delivery vehicle, international delegates voted the event a huge success, and one of the best conferences they had ever attended, covering a wide range of topics from pure research to industrial and medical applications. Organised by Dr Jason Clark from Big DNA, over 150 delegates took part from a very wide range of backgrounds and countries.

Dr John March, chief executive of Big DNA said: ”My hope is that the wide range of scientists, clinicians and biotechnologists currently researching or putting phages to practical use are able to pool their knowledge and expertise to accelerate progress towards further development in this exciting field of biotechnology.  The same basic issues affect researchers and industrialists from many different disciplines. I firmly believe that by collaborating together, we can all reach our scientific goals faster, cheaper and better, for the good of mankind.”

It is hoped that a Bacteriophage Society will be set up as an outcome of this conference which would assist those involved in R&D and that a trade organisation could also be formed by those involved in clinical trials of several phage based products which help towards achieving regulatory approval.

A bacteriophage is a virus which only infects bacteria and like antibiotics, can kill the bacteria, especially in situations where there is resistance to antibiotics.  From the 1930s to the 1970s there was great interest in phages, but that waned with the development of antibiotics. But more recently, it has been recognised that bacteriophages have several potential applications in the modern biotechnology industry – they have been proposed as delivery vehicles for protein and DNA vaccines; as gene therapy delivery vehicles; as alternatives to antibiotics; for the detection of pathogenic bacteria; and as tools for screening libraries of proteins, peptides or antibodies.   This diversity, and the ease of their manipulation and production, means that they have potential uses in research, therapeutics and manufacturing in both the biotechnology and medical fields.   That diversity was reflected in the talks at the conference which stimulated both discussion and more importantly, collaboration between delegates.

Dr John March continued: “Normally those working with phages in the fields of cancer, genes or immunology would be attending conferences in those fields, and would never normally meet. We brought together these people for the first time, from diverse scientific backgrounds who can share ideas, processes and the same basic principles in their work, from very different fields across the globe. Although delegates and speakers had very different objectives from each other, we share the same basic principles in our work, such as manufacturing, licencing, regulatory approvals, and I wanted everyone to have the chance to share the use of phage technology and our common themes.”

If you would like more information on the International Phage Society when it is set up, please contact:  john.march@bigdna.co.uk

Here is my article after meeting with Dr Antony Twort.

http://www.amazingphage.info/USERIMAGES/antonytwort-july08.pdf

On Sunday Dr Antony Twort came to tea. Now 85, he is the
biographer of his father, Frederick William Twort F.R.S, described in 1917 as 'the best microbiologist in the country'. The ASM acknowledged in 1999 that the discovery of bacteriophages - the 'Twort/d'Herelle phenomenon', was one of microbiology's fifty most significant events during the past 125 years. No mention of sunlight/UV.

I asked Antony for a message for current phage scientists so it is all noted down. 

I am enjoying reading the biography. It is so funny in places that I am laughing loudly and at other times so tragic that I am gasping out, "Oh no!"
In other eras it would have made a Shakespearean play or a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Certainly the story is told with style and humour and also scientific authority.



Here's a little gem.

He's quoting Sir Philip Manson-Bahr, a leading expert in tropical diseases,
who wrote this in 1964 when in his eighties about diphtheria in the 1st World War.

"The Director of Medical Services issued an order that: 'this epidemic must now cease', upon which it ceased, and all subsequent cases were described as tonsillitis. That is how some of the directors worked in those days."

They wouldn't work like that these days of course, would they? 


He also gave me a little red Penguin book from 1949 price one shilling and sixpence - one of about a dozen copies that Frederick Twort had obtained at the time. His own article is followed by d'Herelle's article, who was writing about World War 2. Apparently the use of phage was general in the German and Japanese armies; in Russia - in civil medicine as well as in the army. He described the testing and treatment of bubonic plague in Annam 1920, Egypt 1926, southern Russia 1940s, and cholera in the Punjab 1927, Patna, Assam, China and Japan.

It sounds to me as if both bacteriologists did a darned good job and got very little thanks, unlike the director chaps on comfortable pensions.



Today the postman brought me another little gem from Antony Twort. It was a press cutting from The Independent 13 June 1998 approaching 50 years since the birth of the National Health Service in 1948.  He had qualified that same year so the article was how he had fitted into the system. He pointed out that there was the anxiety about lay administration and who was in control. He recalled the Christmas show that year when they all sang a song: "The Army of Clerks has Won the Day". I can't help whistling that old tune - Mademoiselle from Armentiers. I shall have to ask him for the new words, because they might be useful ...........

Thank you Mike J for sending the genealogy of Ernest Hanbury Hankin 1865-1939. British born and bred, (and educated at St John's College, Cambridge) he went on to be chemical examiner, Government analyst and bacteriologist of the United Provinces and Central Provinces of India from 1892 for many years, "where in the face of a good deal of opposition he was able to perform great services in the prevention of epidemics of cholera".  

Presumably that was human opposition but there were other, practical difficulties to be overcome. Hankin's 1896 account, published in French but also available in English, tells an absolutely gruesome tale of dead bodies being ripped to pieces by the huge turtles in the Jamuna river, whilst he was taking his water samples to test the effluvium for microbes. He dealt these turtles a powerful blow with heavy bamboo and he still couldn't easily drive them away. He kindly described these turtles as wonderful undertakers! 

So all of you scientists who want to quote his brave and painstaking input into the story of bacteriophages, please would you check that you are correctly identifying him as E.H. - and not M.E. - a mistake which has crept into some notable publications and is being perpetuated by online thingies like Wikipedia.

And while we are checking the history, I am looking out for C.E.Nelson, F.R.C.S. -  a British surgeon who, maybe even earlier than Hankin, confirmed the purity of the water from the Ganges, and how it kept well for drinking, even on long sea journeys. 

All of these scientific observations and studies have contributed to what we know about the healing power of bacteriophages today. Considering that the River Jordan was referred to in the Old Testament (2 Kings) as having healing properties, it explains the origin of baptism by immersion, and the traditional floating of the dead on rafts, along the sacred rivers in India. The dangerous bacteria - dysentery and cholera, are defeated purely and simply, in next to no time, by the invisible bacteriophages in the water.

Hence, science, nature and religion join together.

I am reminded of my dear old US Veteran friend Roy, may he rest in peace. I still chuckle over his joke - how do you make holy water?  You have to imagine his quiet Texas accent as he was driving his huge truck through torrential rain and floods.

"You put it on the stove and boil the devil out of it."


In the UK this week there are some 'India in London' events. One of these is a theatre production at Sadler's Wells, with a discussion afterwards. It is all about the River Ganges and bacteriophages. The tickets are free so my friends and I might see you there. It's sponsored by the Wellcome Trust. Click on page "2008" for more details.

The research into Myra's dramatic recovery from a burst appendix has led me, first of all, to Major-General P.H. Mitchiner, the famous British surgeon from Reigate whose name is spelled incorrectly on the NHS hospital ward signage and elsewhere.

The next revelation was medically trained scientist F W Twort's original archives in London. He was so misquoted and under-reported. His lifetime's work on phages was not given the credit and respect it deserves. I am in contact with his son and biographer, Dr Antony Twort, who lives not far away from here. We are comparing notes and meeting up for tea this weekend.

Evidently the authors of standard phage textbooks have failed to access these primary sources of information so it will be my pleasure to start a brand new notebook and ultimately put the record a bit straighter.

There is another British scientist whose discoveries have been rather 'taken over' by others or ignored. Hankin was working for the British government in India. Even in the 1890s he was collecting data  about the Ganga and the Jamuna rivers. He discovered an antiseptic in the water that has a powerful bactericidal action on the cholera germ.

Hands up those who have spotted in his famous paper that human excrement is rendered harmless under the sun.

Any volunteers to tell that to the hospital management teams in 2008, please? Mitchiner was taught it a century ago.

You can check out my latest research story and leave a comment at this website: www.sciscoop.com.

The exact page reference is: http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2008/6/6/64137/33802

Here's a short story for you that has kept me happily occupied with researching for the last few days. It's about Myra, a neighbour of mine here in Reigate.

 http://www.relax-well.co.uk/Gangrene_medicine.html

There are some well-known names including royalty, plus photos, references and archives.  
(approx. 1800 words)







.

Today is 29th April - exactly one year since the Amazing Phage adventure officially began with the first flight to the USA, before going on to Canada, Georgia and Poland.

Now there are several notebooks full of information, dozens of autographs in the Winston Churchill book that I was given, about 9 hours of video footage, hundreds of photographs, 24 mini-videos on YouTube whilst I have been practising simple editing skills -  and thousands of emails! The official 20 page report was published in October, and in June of this year I shall be going to the Guildhall in the City of London to receive my silver medallion. I think there would be less than 4000 people who have ever been given this award so, to me, it will be a very special occasion and a great honour. 

The next piece of news is that I have accepted an invitation from Reigate Hill Probus Club for September 15th on the subject of "Amazing Phage".  So all the video footage needs to be edited and narrated, to produce a half-hour programme suitable for an audience of retired professional and business people.  I am not going to say much! Thank goodness it was possible to go to the Evergreen Meeting in August as an extra visit - some of the video footage taken there is really super, and probably all the phage scientists who were at the barbecue and the salmon bake will find that they are in the finished programme - and even if not, they will recognise lots of people from all over the world. There are also the doctors and nurses, and patients who have received phage therapy in all the countries I visited, including the US phage clinical trial with woundcare, and a brief visit to the hospital in London where the Phase 2 clinical trial had taken place with persistent ear infections (successfully).

It is rather fitting that September 15th will be the anniversary of Battle of Britain Day. Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister at the time. Actually he was a regular visitor to Reigate, my home town, over many years, and during both World Wars. He used to visit socially with his wife, Clementine, since he was in the same circle of friends as King Edward VII and the Hon. Mrs Ronnie Greville. He also visited on business and even held secret meetings here sometimes. It is also rather interesting that the hotel where the Amazing Phage programme will first be shown is one of the very same buildings used as Military Headquarters for General Montgomery during WW2!

I shall be taking along a toy phage and a toy MRSA superbug, so that the audience can get the idea, and of course some real phage. The programme will then be available on the internet and probably as a limited edition DVD - reserve your copy now. There is a lot of work to be done before then .................... Thanks everyone for your interest during this year.

This was the subject of the last talk at a UK bacteriophage conference on Friday afternoon, when the results of a randomised double-blind Phase 2 clinical trial were announced.

The answer is: Yes.  





Here's a 3 minute video slide show based on the bacteriophage conference meeting -  watch out for the surprise at the end! Enjoy.... :)

As from today, the Churchill Fellows Report about The Health Value Of Bacteriophages is online for posterity on the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust website at  http://www.wcmt.org.uk/public/reports/168_1.pdf - "a very suitable external link" and sufficiently authoritative for the Wikipedia Phage Therapy page apparently. 
...........................................................................................................................................................



Secondly, today's news from DEFRA, and if you are looking for postgrad scholarship schemes to apply for, please read the last paragraph first:

 

"Many thanks for your email including your report which provides an interesting update on some of the work in this area. I am sorry for my delay in replying.

In terms of further developments in Defra since our last correspondence I can update you on some research work which has been continuing throughout 2007 and on plans for upcoming research.

In one project (OZ0325)  we have been working with the egg production industry to evaluate  the use of phage therapy in laying flocks of domestic birds infected with Salmonella enteritidis with the aim of supporting the industry in meeting EU targets to reduce disease prevalence in flocks. You may also be interested to note that we are running another project (OZ0610)  to consider the presence of Campylobacter phages in the farm environment and whether the presence of phages affects the recovery of Campylobacter. We would expect to publish the final reports of these projects on the Defra website towards the end of 2009. Summaries of the projects can be found at

Project OZ0325  http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=14389&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=oz0325&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

Project OZ0610  http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=13370&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=oz0610&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

The researchers may publish their research either through journals or by presenting at relevant conferences before this time. If you would like to send me more details of the conferences planned for 2008 then I would happily pass them on to the teams involved.

The Food Standards Agency with joint funding from Defra, will be reviewing their strategy for reducing Campylobacter this year. The FSA is commissioning a six-month review of all on-farm interventions  and  strategies for the control of Campylobacter in chicken  and for prioritising research in this area. The use of bacteriophage therapy will be considered along with other interventions.

Furthermore you may be interested to note that the FSA is seeking candidates for their postgraduate scholarship scheme. In the area of meat hygiene, proposals in meat production are welcomed that address methodology to reduce Salmonella in pigs, in particular pre-, pro- and syn-biotic dietary interventions and pre and post harvest bacteriophage control. The deadline for applications is 29th Feb 08." "In terms of the FSA scholarship, more information can be found at http://www.food.gov.uk/science/researchpolicy/researchfunding/scholarshipscheme/"

from: Surveillance, Zoonoses, Epidemiology and Risk
Food and Farming Group
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Phages can be Phun - here's a little collection of photos from my travels in Georgia, Poland and USA showing the health value of bacteriophages simply - 80 days in 8 minutes.

 
And what do scientists say about it so far?

"Looks really good"

"Photos, great idea"

Israelis join exclusive science club
Jerusalem Post, Israel - 7 hours ago
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH Tel Aviv University has hit the jackpot, with three of its scientists included in the list of 50 of the world's leading innovators ...
The therapeutic potential of phage therapy stems from the fact that it does not affect mammalian cells and therefore results in no adverse effects. ...
.
Congratulations to Professor Beka Solomon. The great value of phages for humankind was made clear right from the start in her presentations in Toronto during May and Olympia during August.

Hopefully the forthcoming announcements of this success in various editions of "Scientific American" will increase public awareness and also spark significant investment into these technologies - plus international cooperation.

If you're looking for stocking stuffers for scientists there are some new GiantMicrobe designs in soft toys, including Maggot, MRSA, Penicillin and T4-Bacteriophage. 

Click on the links to order and see the whole range including E.coli, Salmonella, Staph, Pneumonia etc. :
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=127_0_1_7

T4 bacteriophage - 'Exotics'


MRSA - 'Infirmaries'
















Maggot - 'Critters'







They ask us to note that due to manufacturing constraints, there are a limited number of T4 and Penicillin available. In order to manage demand, these items are being made available at an introductory price of $12.95.

Penicillin - 'Exotics'

People are asking me what will I be doing next, now that the report is written and out there.

Well, that is only the start. At the moment I am creating a PowerPoint presentation about my travels -  '80 days with a Churchill Fellowship' but be warned. In this one there is not much at all about bacteriophages -  there are too many other things that you would enjoy.  What about all that fun in Poland on the gnome hunt?

There is a whole photo gallery just devoted to that.
http://www.amazingphage.info/page23.htm.

And there is the statue of the Angel in the Botanical Gardens  -  the giant hairy spider in the pet shop - the cows in the snow-covered fields in the Caucasus mountains - the bed bug bites - the Buddy Holly tribute - the drama of the little boating accident - the magnificent lock on the door of the university - the mysterious hole in the middle of the road - George Washington - various sewers - Niagara Falls at night - funny trees - naughty nighties - a British bulldog - the fantastic swimming pool where I got to wear a hat and found loads more gnomes - the sulphur bath - all sorts of things. There was the underground tour in Seattle too-  and the daring ride I went on just by the Seattle Space Needle. That was scary fun but no photos. There is the story of the incredible flying car, too, the 'Do not feed the cowboys'  poster and the joke about how you make holy water. And how does one manage to see the very latest movie preview when your credit cards are all frozen by the bank? Thank goodness for friends.There may be one or two sciencey pictures just to explain why I went all that way - and of course, a picture or YouTube video clip to illustrate the maggot therapy when you might have to close your eyes, but of course you can always read the official report. You could even join in the discussion at my favourite science blogging site -  the address is http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/viruses-versus-bacteria.html. 

It will be fun to share some of these adventure stories with you. Do say hello on Facebook if you like.

Here's one of the gnomes -  the Pigeonist - on a flying visit.

To complete the story of Amazing Phage, we needed a good quality diagram showing the way that bacteriophages infect bacteria. I am pleased to say that Encyclopaedia Britannica have done the honours. They have also very kindly granted me permission to include their diagram in a slide show. Now who would like to invite me to share this scientific adventure story in an illustrated talk?


By courtesy of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., copyright 1994; used with permission.



























My official 20-page report for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is now available as a signed, printed copy (£10) or downloadable free of charge from this website (click here).  There is also a half-page news item in a local Surrey newspaper (click here), and some very welcome and appreciative feedback so far from colleagues in Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Poland, Georgia, New Zealand, Scotland and England. This includes a very prompt and positive response that originated from the corridors of power in the Houses of Parliament.

Thank you. Your response helps to make it all worthwhile.























..

Wednesday 12th September was the final day of research in Poland - there were several appointments all lined up for a whistlestop tour of official departments and organisations that are the specialists in Warsaw.

But the day started with a surprise conversation: "We are hunting for new genes", said Dr Lobocka. "This is looking far ahead." We must remember that she is an international expert in molecular biology, having also worked in the USA at the National Institute of Health and also at Imperial College, London..

She explained -  and I hope I have understood!

The money that investors will put into the genetic research of phages will not only benefit medical and therapeutic research. The main point to make is that there is a huge perspective in finding new genes that encode proteins that will be useful for industry. This is a great revelation!

The visits that morning enabled me to understand this more fully. The science involves proteases that chop up genomes, comparing genomes of different phages that are far more diverse than the mammalian range. Got that?

We were soon on our way to Warsaw University of Life Sciences (the oldest agricultural academic school in Poland) Faculty of Agriculture and Biology (Dept of Biochemistry) where Malgorzata lectures as a professor. The head of the department of Biochemistry is Professor Wieslaw Bielawski, and Dr Slawomir Orzechowski showed me round the labs. This is part of a very large campus.

Next we were at the National Medicines Institute headed by Prof. Waleria Hryniewicz, and shown their work by Dr Ewa Sadowy.

I was able to visit the new Biology Faculty of Warsaw University just long enough to take a photograph of the entrance but the whole building does look very substantial indeed.

Next I was back at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where there are five different labs, and I was introduced to the Head of the group, Professor Monika Hryniewicz. Here was an amazing story about phages that she is happy for me to tell you.

In the 1950's when she was about 7 or 8 years old, she was suffering from a chronic throat infection. Her mother was a pharmacist at that time in Warsaw, and having identified the exact bacteria causing the infection, she decided to find the exact phage that would kill those bacteria. We all know where we can find those bacterial phages, don't we? Well, she was successful. Having purified them as necessary, she gave the phages to her young daughter and within very little time at all, suddenly she was better again. How about that?

There were other places to explore and people to be introduced to, including the Genetically Modified Organisms Lab which is underground. Jarastaw Ciesla is in charge of that lab, including some special equipment which is $150,000-worth of real time PCR. I was also shown the dedicated bacteriophage biology and biotech network server in the Department of BioInformatics.  I was especially interested to see the confocal microscopes and the regular fluorescent microscope, and the automatic sequencer with 48 capilllaries thanks to Dr Jacek Nowak, which enables us to learn about genomes.

I hope the Department of Health in the UK are a little bit more aware nowadays of the benefits of UV light, laminar air flow and separate air supplies to ensure that rooms are not contaminated. Goodness knows I have written often enough and sent the Minister some evidence and suggestions, for example from France. Anyway, there in one new lab in the Institute is the certified equipment altogether - it is the Staphylococcus pathogen lamp where a certified UV lamp is obligatory. Yes!

Next was the biggest surprise. 




We were to visit the head office of the Polish Academy of Sciences because Professor Gorski is the Vice President, and he spends 60% of his time in Warsaw. Much to my surprise and delight, I was to learn that these offices are on the 26th floor of the Palace of Culture and Science - that rather unusual building that I described two weeks ago - a gift from Stalin to the people of Warsaw. Actually it is rather nice inside and the view is fantastic. It was good fun asking for a photo to mark the occasion (standing beside the Polish eagle on the wall), and then we went for a delicious late lunch.


The evening was also busy - making sure that I was spelling names correctly (let alone pronouncing them!) and photocopying some interesting abstracts from the phage conference that I had attended at Evergreen College in the States a few weeks ago. The library is brilliant.

Best of all was the fact that, since it was the evening, I could laugh out loud at the brilliantly amusing photographs on the library walls by the photocopier. Picture this - a haystack with the back view of four or five scientists wearing white coats - all carefully examining it. The messages were for all languages.

And there was a tree, with a man in a white coat with a basket. He was quietly gathering multitudes of brightly-coloured antibiotics off the branches. Yeah right!

Thank you Poland for a fascinating and enjoyable visit. It will need several photograph albums but I hope you will all enjoy browsing through them when they are completed.

Along with all this news about genomes from Warsaw, you may find it refreshing to look at the collection of gnomes in Wroclaw.

The draft version of the official Winston Churchill Fellowship Amazing Phage report is currently being prepared for publication, and there is video footage of all these visits for a future DVD, subject to suitable sponsorship.


Meanwhile you may be pleased to know that on my return to the UK ---- I have had a reply from the UK Ministry of Defence. No specific comments - but they do send their best regards, along with thanks for the information, and apologies for the delay in replying. Phew!

____________The end______________
 

Now I am in Warsaw again for the last couple of days of this unique Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship. This time I am a guest of the Department of Microbial Biochemistry at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.


It is a great pleasure to meet Dr. Malgorzata Lobocka  and to be visiting the labs.  Already in discussion, my travelling companion Brad (an international educationalist) and I have heard how necessary it is going to be for phage scientists to cooperate and collaborate internationally, in a multi-disciplinary fashion. What is needed is a fully structured and coordinated plan rather than just 'more research'. Then there can be accelerated progress rather than simply repetition with an unnecessary waste of scarce financial resources for scientific research. Dr. Lobocka also advocates big national centres to lead the way, rather than small companies. The overarching principle must be one of integrity.


There are more possibilities for the future.


Very soon it will be time to submit my Fellowship Report to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust entitled "The Health Value Of Bacteriophages". It seems very fitting that these recommendations can be stated firmly amongst the written conclusions and therefore serve as a guiding light for the future.



Any questions?

I am learning all I can. The main job today is to complete our dwarf hunt since I am so curious by nature. Will we find the dwarf that is riding a pigeon? Will we find the naked one? He only has an umbrella to protect his modesty, silly chap. Will we find the one doing his washing by the river? Will we find out which of the dwarves is/are absent without leave?

We have also seen a marketing niche for someone - we cannot find any little models of these dwarves to buy as souvenirs -  and horror or horrors - the dwarves are not featured in even the latest editions of the tourist guides- the Rough Guide to, or the DK book on Poland.

Here's a video I borrowed off Google so you can see for yourselves. There are also four little dwarves that live at the public swimming pool so that's somewhere else to go today before the music concert.

As for all the amazing new stuff on phages, it will be a great story and an exciting adventure with all the ingredients for a best seller but there is far, far too much to put on a blog. You would be bored silly.


My main concern globally is to check that P.T. would definitely stand for Phage Therapy and not Poor Treatment.

The Institute of Immunology is named after Prof. Hirszfeld. It is very interesting to read a moving article about his life's work on blood groups in particular, and we have him to thank for bringing his collection of phages to Wroclaw when he was appointed to the academic staff of the university in 1944-5.

Today, being a Saturday, it was lovely to do some more sightseeing. The highlight was to visit the University buildings.  If you ever go to Wroclaw, do please make the effort to venture inside and remember to charge the battery for your camera first!

The architectural features have been expertly restored and embellished. They are breathtakingly complex and ornate. Yet amongst them there are state-of-the-art exhibitions of the history of the university - numerous Nobel prizewinners featured in pride of place, plus references to famous names of course including Alzheimer and Bunsen but also composers such as Brahms and Grieg and Berlioz who would have held performances in the music rooms, resulting in their names being engraved in stone for future generations to see. In the upper rooms there are more large black and white photographs of formal occasions as well as historic moments. Amongst them, you would see about five photographs featuring Professor Hirszfeld - when he was lecturing in the Medical Faculty - when he was with a group of medical students at the hospital -  and when he was up there at the front of a huge audience on a major academic formal occasion with the Dean and the Rector leading the proceedings, a military personage standing there in uniform, with women wearing glorious hats to mark the ceremony. There was a lot of damage during the war but except for the photographs, you would have seen virtually  no evidence of that nowadays. The knowledge and learning have certainly not been destroyed. They have been built upon and honoured.


Well, hats off to Poland. Many, many thanks.

It is going to take a long time to pass on all the messages and information about what is happening in Poland with phages.

So for the moment, I have just browsed through the photos on my camera over the last couple of days and listed some highlights for you. We shall have to wait before they can go on the gallery!

In reverse order -

Yesterday evening I was able to tke a photo at the very end of the concert in St Mary Magdalene Cathedral - the first event of Wroclaw's Wratislavia Cantans - Missa Solemnis in D major, Opus 123 by Beethoven. It is a sacred masterpiece. We started with a minute's silence with great respect for Pavarotti.  The English soloists included Susan Gritton (soprano) whose family surname would ring a bell for people from my home town.

During the days at the Institute this week, we have covered a multitude of topics - there is a photo of a letter from an Iraqi doctor asking for information on phages. There is an exciting story, still waiting to develop - Ministry of Defence and British Embassies in USA and Georgia please note!

I had the privilege of detailed discussions with phage scientists and doctors. I would especially like to mention Dr Krystyna Dabrowska who is doing some unique research and publishing some key papers on anti-tumour activity of phages.

There are some very happy photos because yesterday was the name day of Dr Beata Weber-Dabrowska - she was receiving lots of flowers and visitors so I had the pleasure of meeting Maria, a paediatrician who is doing some tests with phages on topical dermatitis. I gather that colonised Staph aureus bacteria may be creating some sort of allergic response. The hospital BioEthics Committee permission was all that was required.

I was invited to attend three outpatient appointments  too in the treatment clinic downstairs with Dr Ryszard Miedzybrodski -  Professor Gorski and I had been talking earlier about whether he considers there are really any side effects or not! Well, the query came up about effects on the liver - this little question had been planted in the public's minds decades ago but where is the proof yeah or ney? Well, right there and then we discovered there was documentary proof that any liver effects had occurred before phage therapy started, not after. Phage therapy is only provided after other methods have been unsuccessful. I was given the names of a couple of antibiotics that this patient had been receiving previously (at her cost).

I was invited to photograph her treatment consultation and examination before discharge prior to corrective surgery on a hip prosthesis that had previously been done incorrectly, as shown by the Xray.

Professor Gorski explained to me about a forthcoming conference he is organising on Dual Use. He has shown me a wonderful letter of support that he has recently received for this from the Director General of UNESCO!

There are also various snaps of recent Polish press coverage about their work - including the cover of Polish Newsweek, the cover of Mikrobiologika, and another 'magazyn'. There are further articles and news of a couple of TV programmes, one done in Germany with an excellent electron micrograph. I was later fascinated to discover an article on the Institute's website entitled "On the brink of a fresh phage in history".  Do look it up in Google for yourself. I have now read the original and please note the date of the newspaper is 5th April 1984. In my opinion it is an absolute disgrace that the authorities have done nothing about the good advice of that science writer. It was 23 years ago!  You can figure out the sums for yourselves but I am just very glad that none of my family have died from bacterial infections in that time. We have suffered though.

I have also been shown the purification process using column chromatography techniques, plus a great photo of E.coli bacteria infected with phage. I have had a chance to show the Polish scientists the book of abstracts from the Evergreeen conference and mentioned the new international phage conference scheduled for next July in Scotland. I hope someone is going to invite Professor Gorski as a key speaker.

This afternoon I hope to take a photo at Professor Gorski's lecture at the International Congree of the Polish Pharmacological Society - to be delivered in Polish I think!

Meanwhile I have a nice little photo of a couple of the dwarves in the city centre. My favourites are the Sisyphuses in Swidnicke St. There are many legends of how they arrived. One is of a mysterious rumble that was heard one night, accompanied by the muffled singing "Roll it, roll it, pal."  In the morning, Wroclaw's astonished citizens found a long row of beautiful granite (?) balls all carefully set in order. Only a few people still do not believe in dwarves.

PS. I just wanted to add that Professor Gorski very kindly asked the permission of his audience if he could, under the circumstances, give his lecture in English!  Wow, it was really interesting. We really must try to keep up with all this - he was explaining aspects of phage that I heard no mention of at the conference a few weeks ago. Well, it's all happening right here in Poland. What I hadn't realised was that phages could attach themselves by their heads, rather than just the tails. Basically, we must open our minds to realise that phages don't only have an anti-bacterial effect - they also can prvent inflammatory diseases of the bowel, they can improve renal function in transplantation, they show anti-viral activity (this is brilliantly neat -  they can do this simply because they are viruses and can therefore block the harmful ones!) And apart from that, they have that anti-cancerous tumour effect that I have already mentioned. There is also very strong evidence of phage safety and if you would like to follow up all the evidence, go ahead and ask Professor Gorski. His last comment in the lecture was that phages in our bodies must be contributing to our immune system. The audience were mainly Polish speaking pharmacologists but I have simply extracted some little nuggets of knowledge that need to be explained to the general public, I consider.

PPS. This is very important. The third patient I was introduced to at the treatment clinic had heart surgery a few years ago and unfortunately he contracted MRSA deep in his chest wound, where pieces of metal had been inserted into the sternum.

In common with many other patients, the MRSA did not respond to strong antibiotic treatment. The Polish hospital authorities felt obliged to offer phage therapy so they referred this gentleman to have treatment here at the Hirszfeld Institute in Wroclaw. After all, it is  the Polish Academy of Sciences and a government-funded department! Naturally, the patient is very pleased to pass on the message to us in the UK that this is possible and the treatment is working. And I thought you would like to know. What do you think about that?

First I can update you on the Rommel riddle - I am advised that it was a different Rommel - one German and one Polish. Simple eh!

Secondly I can confirm that I am collecting lots of information about phage therapy in Wroclaw and will be reporting on it in a few days. Yesterday I had the great honour of meeting the Director of the Institute, Professor Jack Szepietowski and also received a phone call welcoming me from Professor Gorski, the Director of the Bacteriophage department. Meanwhile his associates in the department are showing me their work and very helpfully answering queries about the points that we would love to have explained. More news in a few days.

Now I can tell you what my New Zealand friend Brad is doing for her research project whilst  in Wroclaw.

It's all about the gnomes, goblins and dwarves that touched down here on November 8 in the year 780. The latest one arrived April 26, 2007, to the cheers of a crowd waving red umbrellas. So far I have photos of three of them to share with you, all in good time. Officially they only speak German, Czech, Latin or French. They are a direct tribute to the Orange Alernative Movement (a key part in the anti-communist protests in the late 80s). People sang Stalinist anthems in front of the chimpanzee cage at Wroclaw Zoo in a 2000-strong parade calling for the release of Santa Claus. The reference document is 'Wroclaw In Your Pocket' - excellent!

Yes, so far we have only seen three of these gnomes. Brad's mission is to find the others. Will she complete her task to find every single one (14 - and also uncover the mystery of the gnome that is Absent Without Leave? They do have tracking devices but we are going by female intuition and empathy with said creatures. Will our delay to the UK be delayed should the mission not be accomplished in time?

Meanwhile the phage research continues apace. I have my press release to write by next week, oh heck!

It is possible to fly direct to Wroclaw whereas our journey was via Warsaw where it was very straightforward to book intercity seats on the train for a relaxing five-hour journey taking the time to read, rest and look at the scenery. A train ticket is very cheap, your window seat is reserved and you even get a free cup of coffee and a biscuit - how about that for service! Watch out though - just on the outskirts of Wroclaw is a small railway station also called Wroclaw. Luckily the guard whisked our luggage back onto the train for the extra ten minutes otherwise perhaps we would have been rather stranded.

The station building actually looks a bit like a castle. The welcome at the hotel was warm and helpful, and in no time we had discovered the large shopping mall right next door with numerous eating places and enough fashion shops to kit out a good proportion of the young people in this lovely old city. We have not spotted any obesity, thankfully, even though there are a couple of fast food outlets and lots of icecream parlours in evidence. There is really very little litter either. Well done Poland!

Wandering around the old town was an absolute delight - it is rather like a mini-Prague perhaps. The Botanical Gardens are first rate, and right in the centre is a bust of Carl Linnaeus who inspired it. At some stage I shall be able to add lots of photos to the Poland Gallery and you will see not just the magnificent variety of plants expertly labelled and displayed but the general spectacular layout, the educational features, uniquely brilliant works of artistry and nature's own creations - butterflies, frogs, even snakes so close up that we could have stroked them if we had known they are harmless.

Wroclaw is the location for the 2012 football event - not surprisingly, it would be rather a good spot for investors. Maybe they would like to know about the special potential with phages, since the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy is just down the road (2 zlotis on the tram - 40p). It is another phage centre of excellence and the reason for my visit. Ha! 


I was told today whilst being transported back to the hotel by car that I'm a VIP!


Ha ha!

The first day was a feat of endurance, since I had only had one hour of sleep. But my New Zealand friend Brad accompanying me (and her nephew Jack doing the driving) arrived with the car at 4.30am. The flight was uneventful except for an abortive landing attempt. Just as we were approaching the runway in Warsaw, a rescue helicopter appeared out of nowhere and our pilot was asked to make a sharp re-ascent into the skies again for another 10-15 minutes. There were some upset tummies at this time!  The cabin crew were busy asking people to sit down, sit down. sit down since it would have been rather dangerous otherwise. Anyway, we eventually had a perfectly smooth landing and the captain spoke to us all very positively, explaining what had happened and joking that there would be no extra charge for the tour round Warsaw! It was an interesting skyline, dominated by one huge building of controversial old Soviet design. (when Big Brother Was Watching You) - I think it is built with 40 million bricks.  In contrast there are numerous modern corporate high rise buildings whereas in the suburbs, there are loads and loads of flats, all concrete and uniform. Yet in between, there are 'Legoland' style rows of properties and the vast sweeping river that carves its own path.

We took the bus from the airport to save money, avoiding the taxi drivers touting for business, and after several miles it was clearly time to disembark, by the railway station. What a hassle - we were on the wrong side of the road for where we needed to be! There was no way of crossing the street with my suitcase even though the hotel was a short stroll away. By the bus stops, the only passenger lift for disabled people was broken.  Between us, Brad and I negotiated the luggage down into the subway with some ingenuity, scouting ahead for the best routes, and also teamwork and offers of help from local people (women!) carrying the suitcase up the next flight of steps. I was so worried about that sacro-iliac joint again after similar difficulties in Chicago back in May, necessitating extra expense with physiotherapy and much less sightseeing than I would have hoped, considering this is a Travelling Fellowship. The problem is the weight of the paperwork and the books, the old laptop and battery chargers for the camera, video etc..

In a few hours we had located an excellent vegetarian cafe, the banks, the shopping mall, the street layout and also found out about the Philharmonic Orchestra playing that evening as part of the Chopin Festival. So that was really stunning. Everyone was beautifully dressed, the auditorium was almost full to capacity, the chandeliers were dripping with magnificent crystal and the orchestra and soloists were playing to perfection. "BRAVO", shouted the lady in front of us holding her posy of flowers, at the end of the Brahms concerto, just before the wonderful applause and even a solo piece as an encore. She wasn't there after the interval but we had been people-watching and admiring the outfits.

We moved forward a couple of rows to the better seats (as you do) and next, it was that magnificent Tchaikovsky piano concerto that brought goosebumps to my arms and tears to my eyes. Now, what was it a signature tune for? The soloist's wrists were practically dancing in the air above the piano keys with expression and delight.

The evening compensated in some way for my exhaustion and great disappointment that the laptop's main switch laptop had actually failed to survive the journey. No photos for this blog yet then!

The next two full days in Warsaw were a chance to visit the museums and gain some awareness of the vast wealth of science and culture there is, adding so much to the political story of human rights, war and peace. Visiting Warsaw would be a quick way for anyone to learn - it would certainly be an excellent visit to inspire any UK student's interest in 20th century politics, philosophy and economics, and meanwhile fill them with the awe and wonder of science, culture and architecture.

We walked and walked, admiring the magnificent building reconstructions over the last 60 years. We had soon located the main landmarks. We visited the brand new museum of the Warsaw Uprising and I must say, I did appreciate the relative peace and gentleness of the children's area telling the same story but through their eyes, plus the rose garden where there are old war photographs but with touches of colour added to them. I had found the darkness and the small faded print of the terrible story far too much for my eyesight and my nerves. However the basic message was plain, along with various quotes and artefacts that tell the public how the Polish Home Army were so let down that August by the Allies who for ages just did nothing to help.

750,000 deaths?
84% of the buildings destroyed.

Interestingly there are various references to the way that Georgian soldiers had helped. There is even an obelisk in the Freedom Garden, commemorating the link in several different languages - Polish, Georgian and English. Strange that the Georgians and the Poles both make use of phage therapy - as do the Germans. The UK and USA have some catching up to do.

Here are some of the texts being exhibited from the Polish perspective. Perhaps we should contemplate them.

1. The Big Three

'In 1943, at the conference in Teheran, the leaders of the Big Three determine the postwar distribution of power. Polish leaders are not aware of this agreement. The Allies remain indifferent to the outbreak of the Rising. The British government is untruthful in reporaching the Polish authorities for the lack of coordination on the timing of the Rising. All throughout August the Allies procrastinate in recognising the Home Army as an allied army, so the Germans feel free to murder the captured insurgents. The British press is silent at first, and then later a significant part underestimates the significance of the Rising and tried to justify Stalin's actions.'

2. The Anglo American Press of the Rising

'Only exceptionally does someone notice in the Rising a "great contribution to the Allied cause". Lieut. Ward writes fot the Times from Warsaw. George Orwell strongly condemns the "low and cowardly posture of the British press" in the Tribune.'

3. Victims of Uncle Joe's Policy

...'Only Stalin is satisfied -  he can avoid the accusation of not having helped the Rising'.

Several hours later, I appreciated the grandeur and quietness of the much older museum in the central square - a mile or so away in Warsaw's Old Town. The ladies ushered the last one or two visitors fairly quickly because it was late Friday afternoon -  but I managed to notice a bronze bust of General Rommel to add to this amazing phage story!

As far as I knew until then, Rommel was a General in the German Army who had led the troops in North Africa and they had all been issued with packs of phages as a safeguard against bacterial infections.  I had not realised that, from what I was being informed, Rommel was a Polish General. The museum text described that he was captured by the Germans during 1939-45. So that is puzzling to me as yet.

"A bust of General Juliuz Rommel, Stefan Chmielarski c.1935, bronze, mould.

(1881-1967) Polish Army General. In September 1939 he first commanded the "Lodz" Army and later the "Warsaw" Army. From 1939 to 1945 in German captivity."

There are a couple of other little stories about this first visit to Warsaw - and much more closely associated with phages. If you are a phage buff, you will know that phages are found all over the place, especially in sewage. Whilst walking round Warsaw it was interesting to see that a new sewer was being installed in one of the roads, and the pavement was right beside it! So there is now a rather close up view of a sewer, as if you wanted to know what they look like. Perhaps the Polish health and safety approach is a rather practical one - if you happen to be standing too close and you fall in, that's your own tough luck!

Then later as we were walking the route from the Presidential residence to the old Royal Castle, what should be happening but a complete clearance of the road surface and removal of all the tramlines and sewers. Again, right beside us just a few inches away, was a dirty great big sewer  being heaved and shoved out by heavy equipment - bash, bash, bash! There was plenty of time to take close up shots of what was going on, and even a bit of video footage on the mobile phone. In the interests of equality, I think the person in charge was the woman. Between them, they did a great job and on our return an hour or two later, it was all done, the sewer was removed, the hole covered up and the road surface smoothed over with sand just as beautifully as a newly iced cake. Those sewers would have had a very dramatic story to tell, I gather.

Anyway there are plenty more phages in Poland. It is intriguing that sauerkraut, pickles and salami-type meats are also a natural source of phages.  I had sent a very hurried note to a colleague of mine back in England to the effect that at least there are plenty of phages in these Polish supermarkets, and next thing I knew, he had forwarded my message halfway round the world to another phage colleague in Canada! So be aware - if there is a huge increase in the Polish tourist market all of a sudden with rumours going round that you can nip over here and buy phages off the shelf - well, it was just a matter of someone taking my words rather literally.

The next two weeks are the third phase of this Churchill research - currently in Warsaw and then on to Wroclaw. Please revisit regularly for news updates.  Sorry, the photos will have to wait because of technical difficulties with my laptop, but the news should be very interesting!

The wonders of modern science.

Today I was visiting the Marie Curie Museum, situated at her birthplace here in Warsaw. There are some great quotes too:


"What kind of compensation does society give to scholars in return for their splendid self-sacrifice, as a reward for the great deeds done for humanity? ...One's youth and strength, spent in an everyday struggle to live, are the prices to be paid for acceptable working conditions."

and

"I believe international work is a heavy task, but that it is nevertheless indispensable to go through an apprenticeship in it, at the cost of many efforts and also of a real spirit of sacrifice."

and

"We have been given half of the Nobel Prize. I do not know exactly what that represents (...) We are obliged to lecture there during the six months follwing December 10. We did  not go to the ceremonial meeting because it was too complicated to arrange."


and


"We do not know exactly what the essence of radioactivity is, I expect though, that the mysteries of nature shall, with time, once again heed to the labours of a researcher."

And perhaps the same could have been said for phages way back then in the early 20th century. The thing is, we know what phages are now, don't we? Since then, medicine has been transformed by Marie Curie's discoveries but not yet really by phages - unless you happen to be living in one of the countries I have visited this year as part of this Winston Churchill research.

See ya.

The Illinois Governor signed Jeanine Thomas'  bill today after another bitter fight. She has won. MRSA screening in Illinois hospitals starts immediately. This is history and hopefully more states will start.

For further information see my interview with Jeanine back at the end of May as part of this Winston Churchill Fellowship research.

Meanwhile Laura Roberts has written her a 100 words explaining how she has recovered from MRSA by having had phage therapy!

Whilst here in Seattle for a couple of days after the Phage Meeting, I have received a newspaper cutting about one hospital in Wales that has reduced its MRSA levels by 72% over six years by doing the cleaning themselves.

I cannot help but wonder whether that could be even better if we took a leaf out of the book of hospitals overseas: first of all there are the bacteria in the air that the authorities have been told about many times at top level but still there appears to be nothing in the policies. Correct me if I am wrong - I wouldn't know because they usually don't reply.

Secondly there are self-replicating phages of course, that can be used for surfaces etc. etc.. But then, I am repeating myself.  

Come on Sir Trevor - did they show you the email from 14th Feb after your programme?

At the Evergreen International POhage Meeting here in Olympia there are 75 speakers covering a whole range of phage related research.

The key points relating to the health value of bacteriophages are now being emphasised in the Phage Therapy sessions:

for example, the concept that antibacterial therapies would need to have anti-biofilm and anti-bacterial features:

phages could be used as a control strtegy on central venous catheters;

bacteriophage is being used already to control foodborne pathogens and could be extended;

the Phase 2 clinical trial against Pseudomonas aeruginosa is nearing completion in a London hospital;

bacteriophages are used routinely in Georgia for treating open maxillofacial injuries;

bacteriophages break senile plaques in an animal brain model of Alzheimer's Disease so here we have a novel therapeutic avenue;

phages, antibiotics and plant antibacterials are used with newborns in Georgian maternity hospitals and we have seen the data;

the Eliava Institute in Georgia is being renovated and has 90 years of experience with phages - there is much potential in the marketplace and for collaboration worldwide.


Today we shall be hearing more about agriculture - bacteriophages for the control of E coli in cattle; more on food safety; treating Salmonella in chickens; treatng fruit and vegetable produce; and then culminating with more talks on phage therapy. There will be a reference to Anthrax and how phages help in biodefence - and, as I had hoped, a description of the Phages in the Battlefield project which I believe has so much promise and deserves worldwide support at top government level. They appear to have done nothing about it so far in the UK although I brought it to their attention in mid-May. Perhaps the Americans will be more receptive and individuals may of couse ask for action, as I have done.

All of these subjects are referred to in my draft report for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust which you can read and comment on before I submit it in September/October (after the forthcoming visit to Poland).

Also please see the main menu of this site to view the Evergreen photo gallery and the Phages in the Battlefield slideshow.

You are missing an excellent meeting but hopefully these notes and photos will give you a quick overview for future reference.

There are lots of photos now in the Amazing Phage Evergreen Phage Meeting gallery:  http://www.amazingphage.info/page16.htm

Here's just one:












































...................

Arrived Friday at Seattle for the 17th International Evergreen Phage Meeting at the kind invitation of Professor Betty Kutter, Olympia University. It is a spectacular location here by the Olympic Peninsula - the snow-topped Olympic Mountains provide breath-taking views over towards Canada. There is a wide variety of wildlife, including deer and raccoons, and many beautiful wildflowers by the roadsides, especially as you drive up into the higher ground and survey the magnificent landscape.

The Phage scientists are gathering from all over the world.

This is where I am meeting with them and several people are helping with the finished wording of the Churchill Report, so in effect it will be even more of a combined effort.

Phages have just made their first public appearance on canada dot com. Congratulations to Peggy and friends - here's the exact page, and some UK feedback on her letter:

> Hi grace
>
> I think that is probably the best written outline of bacteriophage
> function I have seen. A very neat nutshell.
>
> Sleep well in Seattle.
>
> Barrie

Yes, next Friday I shall be flying thousands of miles to the 17th Evergreen Phage Biology Meeting. It's a wonderful surprise and a very generous gesture from the organisers. Thanks too, to the Director General of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for their help. There are phage scientists from more than 21 countries all over the world - 72 talks and 55 posters.

And will I get to see that Arrowsmith film - the Pulitzer-prizewinning novel by Sinclair Lewis?
Yes.

Neat!

You have to laugh though. On the Wikipedia page for Arrowsmith, would you believe the reviewer didn't make any mention of bacteriophages! Typical. How long will that take for someone to update it? Frankly, I am rather busy.

While we are talking about funding, here is the information about the UK and the 16.5 million GBP available so far. Are we going to have phages included in the research from now on, or not?


http://www.mrc.ac.uk/ApplyingforaGrant/CallsForProposals/TranslationalInfectionResearch/index.htm

Translational Infection Research







The final date for both of these opportunities is October.

Now here's an idea for encouraging phage networking and other strategies that could work well with them too.

European funding!

Perhaps the contributors to the new bacteriophage book and/or the academic institutions will consider submitting an application.

http://www.esf.org/activities/research-networking-programmes/2007-call-for-proposals.html

We could do with some funding for a DVD and some materials too - thanks!

I am pleased to say that the Science and Technology Center in the Ukraine financed 5 bacteriophage projects - total amount about 900,000 USD, so it's about time for Europe to catch up a bit. Can't Europe do better?

Ooh, there is some very interesting news from Poland. It's a preprint of a paper to appear in Adv Hyg Exp Med. and soon to be online anyway.

We believe it should be an important contribution for a wider application of phage therapy. It is entitled:

"Phage therapy of staphylococcal infections (including MRSA) may be less expensive than antibiotic treatment"

Think about it!

Who would like to read it?






Key words: phage, MRSA, cost of therapy, staphylococcal infection
Word count: 1921
Tables: 2
References: 39


Here you are - a quote:

"This is about half the cost of 10-day therapy with vancomycin and several times less compared with the other drugs shown in Table 2." So, we await news of what the MoD and the DoH are going to do about it.



PS 9.07. It is now online at http://www.relax-well.co.uk/less_expensive_than_antibiotics.pdf and several other places.

...

Book review - pdf

Bacteriophage Genetics and Molecular Biology
Edited by Stephen Mc Grath and Douwe van Sinderen
Publication date: 1 July 2007
Publisher: Caister Academic Press, UK
£150

This beautifully produced, hardback book is also manageable in size and clearly a significant investment for any forward-thinking university or hospital library. It would be a source of inspiration and scientific excitement for students and researchers in a variety of fields, including medicine and industry.


There are 36 contributors spanning 11 countries across Europe and North America. The editors start off by providing postal and email addresses for all the co-authors; this will help to encourage respectful networking and sharing of knowledge during the current rapid developments in phage science. Refreshingly, they have decided not to state academic status or qualifications, thus indicating a spirit of egalitarian collaboration and initiative, meanwhile suggesting that times do change, and we are all learning.


The 12 chapters are mostly co-authored by colleagues working locally. The 352 pages include nearly 70 pages of published references, 30 figures and 6 tables, 9 pages of index and 1 colour plate to illustrate some biological chemistry.


The first chapter is an immediate overview, barely touching on the old history of phage science. It simply summarizes the here and now – the way that phage science has played a crucial role in some of the most significant discoveries in biological sciences, especially with DNA genetics and our understanding of viruses, resulting in a Nobel Prize in 1969.


Since then, phages have been widely put to use as model organisms and very handy research tools in the transformation of biological research. We have phages to thank for answering some complex biological questions. Genes and DNA are now in common parlance, and a new genomic era was established thirty years ago, with much work still to do.


We are guided through the multifaceted nature of bacteriophage research, discovering a precious hoard of tiny gems.


For the 21^st century there is very detailed information on the biology, ecology and diverse nature of phages. The authors explain that we now know that phages have a dramatic impact on the ecology of our planet, referring us to key authorities and leaders in the field of phage science and microbiology.


I can particularly commend the chapters on ‘Bacteriophages in Medicine’ and ‘Phage Therapy – The Western Perspective’, since these authors (from Poland and Switzerland, respectively) enlighten us to some unexpected and welcome new avenues for further research and development. For example, besides their clear role as one of the tools we could add to our essential arsenal defending us from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, we are informed of the surprising potential of phages in treating viral infections, and some novel findings in improving and maintaining the immune system.


These chapters would also do a powerful job in allaying some concerns of ‘Doubting Thomases’, as well as providing mostly very readable and even lively accounts of scientific adventure happening right now.


The basic message that runs like a glittering thread through this theme is that the bacteriophages used in medicine are safe. We are advised precisely where to look for the evidence. ‘From a clinical standpoint, phages appear to be innocuous.’


With scientific discoveries being made all the time, perhaps future editions will include breaking news of phages in combination with enzymes, or bio-composite technologies, or multiple concurrent strategies to tackle biofilms and the outcome of the current Phase 2 and Phase 1 clinical trials taking place in London UK, Texas USA and Germany. There are practical opportunities for clinical research in veterinary science and dentistry, as well as human medical and environmental applications. There is also potential for phages to be applied through the lymphatic system to treat serious infections rather than intravenously, filamentous phages for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and aerosol phages that could be put to use on traumatic wounds on modern battlefields.


Regarding clinical trials, the authors call for cooperation with industry, unless public funds can now be allocated for this purpose.


Swiss contributor Brüssow describes phage therapy as ‘a unique medicine, which challenges current pharmacokinetic concepts’. Whereas the safety aspect is clearly documented, the point is made that, as yet, definitive proof of the efficacy of these phage approaches is only provided in a few cases. He advises us that there is some documentation in Russian that could provide detailed evidence from extensive double-blinded prophylaxis and treatment trials.

Meanwhile we are reminded of the strides forward that have been made in New York with Vince Vischetti’s Rockefeller group working on lysins. They have made a great contribution to the world by providing a ‘biological disinfectant’ against a top bioterrorism agent, anthrax.


We are indebted to these scientists for pooling their valuable work into one volume so that students, academics and other interested parties around the world can read and decide for themselves whether phage biology is worth serious investment of time and money. No doubt you will find other highlights worth mentioning. Even the cover of this book is an intriguing work of art.


July 2007

Grace Filby
Churchill Fellow

These two programmes are not new but they do communicate the urgent message about infections very directly. Number 10 Downing Street please note.

The first one features Jeanine, who I went to visit in Chicago a couple of months ago.

Well, blow me down with a feather. I have just had a letter from Number 10. It's in very big writing.

"Dear Ms Filby

The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your recent letter. Your comments have been carefully noted.

As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible for this matter Mr Brown has asked me to pass your letter to that Department so that they may reply to you on his behalf.

Yours sincerely ...."

It took me a couple of minutes to remember what I had written to him about. Oh yes, basically I was asking him if he knew about bacteriophages, and please may I have a brief comment that I can quote in my official report and in the meantime, on my blog. I take it that's a sort of "Wwwell, I do now." 





Thank you very much!

....

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.




























.......

Anyone who is familiar with the Naked Scientists radio and news items on bacteriophages - and science in general - would probably smile at this latest Smartart poem - Dress Code. 

As naked scientists contemplate men’s nipples  (10^th Jun)

And Armageddon with a practised eye, (24^th Jun)

Their brilliant minds are brought to sharp attention

When the Amazing Phage phenomenon comes by.

No more will they chill in extreme survival  (22^nd Jul)

Nor jiggle with a jam jar full of rice -  (3^rd Jun)

A Cambridge conversation's in the offing

And a Commons feast of phage that will suffice.

So naked scientists dress yourselves – and hurry

Though phages have seen all there is to see.

Like us, the little chaps expect decorum

Though respecting nakedness med-ic-all-y.





...

The Ministry of Defence replied this week, including this very welcome invitation.

'...Regarding your visit to the Gori Military Hospital, if there are any outcomes or discussions that you think may be of interest to the MOD, then please do send these along.'

So this is indeed what I have done in two rather lengthy and detailed emails. I hope they are received safely. There are still some more key points to be pointed out, but basically it relates to the fact that when they wrote formally last September about what they knew of bacteriophages, they didn't mention anything about the clinic in Poland, the clinic in Texas or the great interest in phage therapy that there is in universities, especially at Evergreen College in Olympia University, Washington State. Perhaps they didn't know then. That first letter is with my previous research on my other website - the page reference is http://www.relax-well.co.uk/MOD-20060916.pdf .





There are scientists going there from all over the world to attend the 17th International Evergreen Phage Biology Meeting which is just around the corner, from 12-17th August.  It will be an ideal opportunity for those further discussions about the Phages on the Battlefield project that I immediately brought to the attention of the British Embassy in Washington DC a couple of months ago - in person. 

The other piece of news is that there is a beautiful new book published in the UK.

Don't worry about the price. It costs about £150, but with any luck you can soon read it for nothing. I think it should be in every university library and NHS library - don't you? It is very inspiring.

In this area, the nearest local NHS library (and with open access to the public) is at East Surrey Hospital, in Maple House. You can sit and read in the fresh air and sunshine if you prefer.

If you are new to this site, you may like to start at the Welcome page.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

MP Sandra Gidley asked the Secretary of State for Health how many children died from a hospital acquired infection since 2000.

The written answer from Ann Keen (DoH) yesterday stated that The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual reports on statistics of deaths with meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemias or Clostridium difficile.

What? Nah!!! Oh alright then - I hadn't seen that!  

If I just explain the context - it's the Department of Health headquarters in Whitehall yesterday - Richmond House with a Union Jack flying above it. I think as I remember, the Cenotaph with masses of flags is just to one side of it.


When I glanced at the tiny photo on my mobile phone, I first saw the central shadow - a soldier carrying a flag/holding a musket or something? The actual flag I was photographing looks like a little puff of smoke. To me, this would be like a constant reminder that so many people have died needlessly, or in fighting for our countries or from infections.

I don't know if the Cenotaph and flags are causing the big shadow or whether it's the tree, but for some reason when I tried to email it to my computer, it never got there!  I have tried several times and to my other email address too.




Most odd.

So next time I go to London on a sunny day I am going to take my proper camera and be there in Whitehall at the same sort of time to try again. It was about 4.45pm I think.

It was a good meeting at 1 Birdcage Walk - I am fairly hopeful that something would come of it. They are offering £16.5 million at the moment.  Loads and loads of scientists!  I think I was probably the only one that didn't have a job title on my printed name badge. Tee hee!

Also I think it's rather unfortunate that the great big tree isn't growing vertically. Not so good with droughts and floods.

Oh, and when I looked at that shadow again, it looked just like a cleaning lady carrying a mop and a bucket!

A friend of mine even wondered if that was a Gormley on the roof (left). Well, possibly ... but let's get real.


But I nearly forgot to tell you the best bit. 



At the Open Meeting, my colleague asked a brilliant question that came like a bolt out of the blue. Where did the figure £16.5 million come from?  Was there going to be more money if there are some really good ideas for sorting out infections in the UK once and for all, as a long term strategy?

That caused a ripple in the audience.

I am pleased to say that the panel said yes, they could rustle up some more money. They said that they were possibly just a bit doubtful that there would be sufficient high quality proposals from our scientists.

"There are gaps in UK microbiology" said Professor Brian Duerden, the Chairman - the Chief Microbiologist from the Department of Health. They are offering this funding "so that people don't get left behind if they have something to offer."

That is verbatim.

Another question - training abroad?
"Yes" they said. "It could be very useful."

"The principle is adding value - an inward flow to benefit the UK."



There is also a major one-off funding opportunity for the scientific community in Europe, to assist with networking, but that's another story and I would love to tell you about it. It would probably be easier if you ask.

Oops! Oops! Ooops!

Professor Brian Duerden, the Chief Inspector of Microbiology and Infection Control at the Department of Health had lots of meetings last year and he wrote a report in July. It was published in January - and this is one of his findings.

"... all were agreed that there was in fact a staffing crisis in medical microbiology across all the professional groups. There is a significant deficit in consultant medical microbiologist numbers and with a vacancy factor around 10%, there are a number of laboratories around the country where posts have been vacant for upwards of a year. In some instances there is no full-time medical microbiologist in a laboratory.

Similarly the lack of a proper career structure for clinical microbiologists (clinical scientists) has hindered throughput of trainees to senior posts and there is also a lack of trained biomedical scientists in many areas."

We are left to draw our own conclusions.

And, oops again.

They were saying the same thing for years. Academic Medical Bacteriology in the 21st Century, published by the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001, highlighted the decline of medical microbiology as an academic discipline in the UK.

Now - for some positive action and free advice.
We could start with the little ones, couldn't we?
Are you sitting comfortably?
Then I'll begin. 

Here's a lovely story about microbes that we made earlier.
You can sing along if you like.
http://www.relax-well.co.uk/a_little_story.html  


And meanwhile perhaps the DoH can get on with organising a proper career structure for budding young microbiologists please, so they have something to look forward to when they grow up.













.....

Re: 28th May - Photosensitivity or phages?

The MHRA have now written again, pointing out that they were quoting from the Summary of Product Characteristics for doxycyline which is written and owned by the Marketing Authorisation Holder (ie, license holder) for a medicine. And "Furthermore, as an Agency, it is not our role to comment on the availability or suitability for alternative treatments for individual patients." So presumably it's up to the rest of us to comment.

The MHRA are now saying that they are not able to draw on this research and knowledge 'at present' - and that is a teensy-weensy bit different (isn't it?) from what they wrote two months ago in May, when they were not aware of the need.


Here's some small print: http://emc.medicines.org.uk/emc/assets/c/html/displaydoc.asp?DocumentID=16431.

I'd rather have natural therapeutic phages any day for my family, thanks. I have searched everywhere on Google and asked experts all across Europe and North America but no-one can come up with any evidence of adverse effects at all.









Phages in Reigate, Surrey, UK


And anyway, there's a bacteriophage petition on the Prime Minister's website¹, and yesterday's BBC Radio 4 programme² so at least the general public will know about Pseudomonas phages for earache in a London hospital. Phage therapy isn't a specialist subject any more.

Also there's some great news in the news release from my colleagues in Canada³ and Texas regarding that wonderful synergistic effect of Dispersin B and phages I referred to a couple of times in May - and even better news for interested parties who would now like to research it further. 



references:
¹Number 10 Downing Street - bacteriophage

And while we are looking at research, here is Teona Daniela's paper about liquid phages and Phage Bioderm for treating people who have had traumatic facial injuries in car crashes.

Are we still not going to do anything about this in the West?

http://abre.tsmu.edu/2005/v5is1_07.pdf

We've found the peritonitis research translated into English -  in dogs and human patients!


Here it is -

Tbilisi State Medical University, Annals of Biomedical Research and Education, 2001 October/December, Volume 1, Issue 4 - pdf

Abstract online:
Paper: Clinical and Immunological Aspects of Treatment of ...

Grace with Matron and surgical infection staff at the Central Military Hospital, Gori for military and civilian patients.
Phages are used routinely throughout many hospitals in Georgia, including treatment for newborns and with wounds,burns and gastrointestinal infections especially.





Dr Gvasalia pointed out at the end of our meeting that we know that phages aren't everything. However, regarding the Phages on the Battlefield project, yes, the Georgians can teach Iraqi doctors how to use phages - and yes, they still need research.

We continued our visit to the Central Military Hospital accompanied by numerous staff, and were shown many different departments, operating theatres and treatment rooms - all of which have gleaming surfaces and state-of-the-art equipment. The Surgical Infection suite is kept completely separate from the rest of the hospital with its own air supply - please note. I have written to Health Ministers and the DoH in the UK about this subject many times but they have evidently decided that it's not significant! I won't bore you with the detailed correspondence but most of it is still online on my main website (www.relax-well.co.uk).

Fortunately the hospital has very few patients at the moment, however there was one department absolutely teaming with young people, all queueing for their medical examinations in the hope that they can join the Georgian military forces. There is very high unemployment in Georgia so I expect there is a lot of competition. I wonder if they realise that they are probably the only military force in the whole world that can be treated with phages to stop them getting life-threatening infections in their wounds. For all I know, Russian soldiers in vast numbers may still be issued them, as they were before for many years - but I haven't asked anyone about that yet! Does anybody  happen to know?


There are lots more photos of the hospital tour on the newly updated Georgia Gallery page: http://www.amazingphage.info/page4.htm - they are near the end though so please look carefully.

Back again in the UK, I met up with Roger Mintey this afternoon to give him the new instructions from the Phage Therapy Center back in Tbilisi. This was the follow up to his treatment in March, when I was accompanying him.  During this recent two weeks when I was in Tbilisi again doing my Churchill Fellowship research, Dr Zemphira and Dr Tengiz had established in the lab what the current bacteria are with Roger's continued chronic sinusitis. They have developed an autophage specially for his bugs, plus another treatment regimen including the honey extract to boost the immune system, some capsules and some antiseptic ampoules. The written info is mostly in Russian or Georgian but let's hope that the notes in English have helped somewhat, and that he gets better soon!































........................

 As promised - here are my notes from the meeting with Prof. Guram Gvasalia, the Chief Doctor at the newly opened Central Military Hospital in Gori, Georgia. The main theme is BACTERIOPHAGE THERAPY RESEARCH ON PERITONITIS. Peritonitis is the most frequent reason for death in surgery.

From 1970 when Dr Gvasalia could see a future of antibiotic resistance, he chose one of the best ways to prevent infections that would also be cheaper and more effective than antibiotics. He applied phages to soft tissue infections and especially Staphylococcal infections, and then took the next step which was to consider intravenous applications. Unfortunately they did not do a randomised study because they didn't have those methods. This is why intravenous phages don't have data.

His next step was the endolymphatic system - he said that using phages in this way is more effective than in the blood. The lymphatic system accumulates medication like a depot system so it has a higher period of effectiveness. He could prove it with his study on dogs. By injecting phages into the leg, he could very soon find them in the central lymphatic ducts. The ducts and glands are small so they need a very small concentration. In a healthy dog, the phages couldn't pass through the lymph system (the system catches the phages) but if the dog has an infection, the phages go with the bacteria. So when a dog has experimental Staphylococcal peritonitis, the lymph system does allow them to work. He described it as a "security barrier".

The central lymph duct is taking whole lymph, putting it into the blood and also it collects in the lymph gland. You only need 3-5 grams of liquid to move through the whole body! If you use phage through the central lymphatic duct it's very quick - the effective period is 30 minutes. All the data is available - the study has been done. The count is quantitative. It dates back to the second part of the 1980s but there are reasons why this was not 'popular'/well publicised.

Certainly Dr Gvasalia pointed out that there is no difficulty with the fact that phages kill bacteria in the lab, and also in humans - this is proved , but why, if they are so good, are they not used? Why, sometimes, is there no effect?

Here are the reasons stated:

1. Scientists researched on antibiotics in clinics more than phages, so they have little knowledge.

2. Money.

3. People forgot about phages.

Several countries did continue researches, but even in those countries there was not lots of money or publicity. Researches were stopped on a clinical level with patients. More needs to be spent on pathology at a cellular level, cell morphology, immunology etc to see what happens in the wound.

Dr Gvasalia's team was one of the first that decided to study this, not just in the clinic, but at a very serious, fundamental level. With antibiotics, physicians know about dosage, effectiveness and pharmacodynamics, but they don't know these qualities of phage biotics. If you can prove these qualities, you can give some serious recommendations and how not to have bad results. They do have plans for this experimental research but it needs money.

What about the dog research - was it published? Yes, it was published in Georgian! It needs translation, and the West don't know about this research! They found that within 1 to 3 hours, the dogs' lymphatic system was sterilised. They cannot be sure they have solved the problem because it needs money but first, it needs interest. Peritonitis is the most frequent reason for death in surgery. So the data is not enough - they need more results.

Phages are cheaper than antibiotics and - Dr Gvasalia emphasised, there are NO side effects.

Would a drugs company be interested? Antibiotics are on the first level of the pharma industry, and there is huge interest - but are they short of ideas? There are only two new antibiotics in the last 7 years, and the microbes will be resistant to those soon.

There is big interest in the phage work in Georgia and people are going there to find out about it but not from big companies.  There is US Government funding for the Eliava Institute, better equipment, salaries for the staff, a reference lab and a program. It is also necessary for the Georgian Government to help them. The Ministry of Education and Science give the charter so that they can legally produce phages. They need a production facility and a quick learning program. It is easier being in the Military Hospital - although there is the problem of supply!

Dr Gvasalia summarised by saying that in the US, phages are not used on humans, and in Europe and USA, the work is on phage biology and research only. He asks the question: if they are not using it in clinics and in humans then why keep phages to the study of genetics? Till studies are done, we can't move it forward.

Question: how much money? 


Please pay attention: we were told that they haven't done a budget because they didn't have a hope!

After a few minutes, the answer came that it would take 2 or 3 years, and to continue with the animal experiment then a clinical trial would cost $3-400,000.

What are we waiting for?                           

I have been a bit preoccupied the last few days with lots (and lots) of lumps and bumps that have gradually appeared over my arms and legs. They are dreadfully itchy. Thank goodness for Google, for helping me with my research into that. I have no conclusive evidence as to the exact cause, but it was certainly interesting to read the following medical advice on the NHS Direct website:

“Soaking in a bath with 2 cups of rolled oats secured in a sock helps to relieve itching.”

I have no idea either whether that official seal of approval for the health value of rolled oats was as a result of double blind randomized clinical trials. Is it actually proven? Perhaps someone would know at the MHRA.

Meanwhile I wonder if NHS Direct would like to offer us all another helpful suggestion:

“Soaking in a bath with 2 cups of bacteriophages helps to relieve bacterial infections.” No need to bother with securing them in a sock and they are completely harmless.

I didn’t think to pack any rolled oats with me on my research trips. Oh well, home tomorrow. I’ll show you the photos of my itchy arms and legs as medical evidence if you like!




























...................

The town of Gori is about 45 minutes' drive from the capital of Georgia. Last week, my visit had been to Stalin's birthplace and museum there.

Yesterday's visit was to the new Military Hospital in Gori, to meet Professor Guram Gvasalia and to ask him about his pioneering work with bacteriophages - treating surgical infections in hospitals, teaching and lecturing at the medical university and leading research e.g. on the battlefield.

The meeting was arranged through my dear friend and colleague Zemphira Alavidze PhD from the Eliava Institute and the Phage Therapy Center; also Teona Danelia MD, PhD who is the Coordinator of the Phage Therapy and Surgical Infection Program for the Phage Biotics Foundation. All three liaise closely with Professor Betty Kutter at Olympia University, Washington, US and Lasha Gogokhia MD in Lubbock, Texas. I was also pleased to be accompanied by my UK friend Robin Rotherham who is visiting Georgia this week to meet some of my bacteriophage contacts and discuss potential. With his expertise in business and pro bono work in the voluntary sector, he is very good at asking pertinent questions and also, like my daughter Amy, is fortunately a dab hand with a camera!

Just to explain the background and how this meeting had come about: Whilst I was in Texas during May, Lasha had brought to my attention some of Prof.Gvasalia's unique and inspiring research during the early 90s. He had provided spray canisters of phages for the soldiers and obtained clear evidence that they had saved scores of soldiers from serious purulent infections. It was this data and photographic evidence that had formed the basis of the project idea to provide some phage training for Iraqi doctors from 2007 onwards. It is an ambitious project that will involve considerable international cooperation and goodwill, not to mention financing and joined up thinking, but it seemed so right to me that it had formed the subject of my conversations with the British Embassy in Washington DC - and correspondence to my MP and other British contacts. Clearly it's going to take time to move that project forward, but gradually more people are beginning to hear about it and are offering little leads and contacts.

The new military hospital has been open since December 2006 and has facilities for 190 patients, both military and civilian.

Professor Gvasalia explained to us with Teona and Zemphira interpreting, that it was way back in 1970 when he could see a future of antibiotic resistance. He therefore chose one of the best ways to prevent it - a way of treating infections that is cheaper than antibiotics and also more effective.

His first step was with soft tissue infections, and the next step against Staphylococcus aureus.

I shall type my notes as written - they may need editing in case I have misunderstood the interpretation.

Continued.... please see the next few blog entries for news about research on peritonitis, published in Georgian and the West don't know about this research! Peritonitis is the most frequent reason for deaths in surgery.

Our visit to the world-renowned Eliava Institute in Gotua Street was on Amy’s last day in Georgia. We were afforded every courtesy and consideration, including lengthy conversations with the new Director, Dr Revaz Adamia and the Chief of the Scientific Council, Dr Mzia Kutateladze.

For simplicity you may like to browse through the slide show of 48 photographs outlining our visit.

It's here: Georgia Gallery

However there's a great deal to tell, and it adds some valuable insights and information. I will do my best to summarise it here, in advance of the independent report I shall be writing for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (for the benefit of the British people).

To put it in context, Dr Adamia has a wealth of international experience including a diplomatic role as the Permanent Georgian Ambassador to the UN. He was recently based in New York for five years and he is completely fluent in English. He has a lovely sense of humour, as you will see from some of his choice comments that I shall quote for you! Perhaps that has grown so strong and enduring through so many years of fighting bureaucracy. But maybe this is exactly what is needed to move bacteriophages forward now synergistically into mainstream awareness.

Well, it was rather interesting to see two special photographs of him on the wall in the company of some famous faces: US President George Bush on the right, and Kofi Annan on the left – the Ghanaian diplomat who was twice Secretary General of the UN for ten years in total - and in 2001, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

I think Sir Winston Churchill would have enjoyed this meeting! Anyway, I had taken along my precious book of his photos, ready for an autograph or two, along with a Winston Churchill commemorative crown to mark the occasion. Dr Adamia wrote:

’Hope that the phages will become as “phamous” as Sir Winston!’

Over the years there must have been many thousands of visitors to the Eliava Institute – and this, my second visit, turned out to be so well timed because they are just in the midst of a great renovation programme! It was a delightful turn-up for the books, because when I had visited briefly in March for the Rustavi2 TV Business News item, the sky was grey – and being early springtime, it was all a bit cold and rather dark in the labs. There was a lot of paint hanging off the walls, because the buildings hadn’t received any attention or maintenance for several decades.

Now that is all changing – there are workmen everywhere. For a good start, there is a pair of brand new metal doors. They are going to look very suitable at the top of the steps by the enormous pillars at the entrance.

Maybe one day I shall be able to accept the kind invitation to visit when it is all finished and returned to its former glory whilst providing world class state-of-the-art, 21^st century cutting-edge bacteriophage science. I have established categorically that the Eliava priority is the structure and management of the Institute.

Here are some snippets from the conversation!

1.

The Institute is a mosaic housed in three separate buildings – one was built in the 1980’s as an industrial unit, and it went through the privatization process in a ‘very stupid manner’.

2.

There are some companies/people in the industrial building illegally, but the Institute is formalizing the system although it takes time to fight with bureaucracy. ‘It is hell’ (bureaucracy). When the documents are in their hands, they will then be able to make best use of that additional space, since as well as the much needed phages, the Institute also has experience with vaccines, sera and enzymes.

3.

The Institute enjoys serious help from the Defence Threat Reduction Agency, a big programme in Georgia countering bioterrorism. They are assisting in commercialisation.

4.

The UK Health Protection Agency is funding a project and now the DTI/MoD Eliava literature project has at last started (hurrah!). It will take a year and is a huge task. I mentioned from my independent research behind the scenes that the Dept of Health and DEFRA are not looking at any of this at all until they are approached by the MoD with the final report. Again, I was given the name of David Elliott (having been given that name at the ASM meeting in Toronto a month ago) and now also Richard Sharp, who is the ISTC collaborator for the Anthrax project and also the phage literature project.

It is a shame that I have had to travel many thousands of miles (three journeys) when somebody could surely have let me know in all my correspondence with UK government departments over the last couple of years. At least I have found out the information at long last from our very helpful and welcoming Georgian colleagues. The UK has much to learn, I am sorry to say, but at least I think I have identified one of the problems that now needs to be put right.

5.

It was confirmed that the Eliava phage literature is mainly evidence based studies. Double blind studies were not obligatory in the Soviet Union.

6.

Dr Adamia suggests that if Third World countries move phage therapy forward, then Europe and the USA would follow. Hundreds of millions would be needed for clinical trials, so how to pass over the regulations?

Well, what about the antibiotics crisis level that Dr Carl Merril of the NIH had referred to in the New York Times in 2004? He had said that anything would be possible in that scenario.  I mentioned the very latest news that my MRSA Survivors Network colleague and research contributor Jeanine Thomas has just sent me, as reported in the Chicago Tribune a couple of days ago.  It does sounds like a crisis that they have only just realized by collecting some data.

Article: Staph infections rampant: (Google cache)

7.

On the subject of official funding being reserved for long-term lab phage research rather than therapeutic research, Dr Adamia gave us the following statement:

“To try to hinder the helpful approach is at least immoral.”

I hope this will be considered very carefully by some of the phage research ‘establishment’ please. It cannot be ignored as a professional point of view, surely.

8.

Question: ‘How is the Eliava Institute run?’

Answer: ‘I don’t know!’

9.

Examples of bacteriophages working positively will very much depend on:

- The amount of effort;

- The willingness or resistance of the big pharmaceutical companies;

- The changing of the regulations (not the natural phages);

- Overcoming people’s suspicions and psychological blocks about viruses and any transfer of genetic material.

10.

Both Dr.Revaz Adamia and Dr Mzia Kutateladze confirmed categorically that there is no evidence of any harm caused by bacteriophages. The Eliava Institute has the vast experience of decades and is now the headquarters since the Moscow-run network of Institutes doesn’t exist any more. Entire hospitals are using phages very widely. Please see the photographs of the huge Eliava library and archive that would substantiate the statement that there is no evidence of any harm caused by bacteriophages.

To put this crucial point in another way: the Eliava experts have identified for us the main barrier to phage therapy in the western world. It is that very powerful but tiny psychological block– fear. This may be a hard lesson for some people to accept, but it needn’t be.


Conclusion:

Not all viruses are dangerous.

Bacteriophages are harmless except to bacteria.

There is work to be done.

This concludes my research at the Eliava Institute this week. Please refer to the photographic record of work in progress that is now in the online slide show via the main menu - Eliava Institute. It would be possible to show it as a high resolution slide presentation on request. Now it is up to others to make use of this research and help to put things right, rather than hinder progress by doing nothing about it.

On the subject of Ambassadors, did you know that singer Katie Melua is from Georgia and lived in Tbilisi as a baby? Recently she lived in the Borough of Reigate too. And she cares about swans.

Monday was the day when Dr Zemphira Alavidze was back in Tbilisi so it was wonderful to receive her call. We immediately arranged to meet up in the afternoon at the guest house. Fortunately I had also heard that the PTC did receive UK patient Roger’s description of his current symptoms via the latest email as a result of the clinic visit on Thursday.

Amy and I therefore had several hours free to follow up a brilliant suggestion made by the guide from Caucasus Travel who had escorted us on our travels over the weekend. We were looking forward to this! We had asked her to write the name of the place in Georgian, so that this time we could avoid confusion with the taxi driver and go directly there instead of all round the houses!

So it was very pleasant to walk straight outside and hail the taxi going past that very minute. Immediately we were on our way to the bazaar – the food market – to enjoy the sights and sounds, the hustle and bustle, but best of all, appreciate all the colours, textures and aromas of an Eastern European trade centre. In Georgia, everyone buys their food fresh each day. The produce is all organic.

The building itself is really a concrete shell of a place. I expect that when it’s empty at the end of a busy day, it would be almost unrecognizable – grey and anonymous. But here the taxi driver simply pointed his finger at where to go amongst the bustling activity, to start this little adventure, and off we went! It was the ground floor first. We walked along the aisles between the piles of gorgeous fruit and bright fresh vegetables feeling a bit conspicuous with our fair hair and no shopping bags! But we were soon greeted with many smiles and gentle beckons to approach the various stalls and look more closely. There was no pressure – it was for our interest and education apparently. At the other end of the ‘hall’ was a rather disconcerting sight – the huge lid of the sewer was open!  Just as well we were looking where we were going!

Really perhaps it is best if I make no further comment on that.



We continued walking down towards the front again, past the chicken sellers all in groups. Amy was remembering similar markets in Brazil, whereas I had seen similar sights in Hong Kong and China (and in those markets the birds are often sold very much alive, for the shoppers to pop into a plastic bag and hang on to the handle bars of their bikes – not exactly fast food, but certainly fresh!)

After a lovely conversation in English with one of the local women selling chickens, we wandered on - this time up the steps to the first floor where there was more sunlight and plenty of fresh air. All the fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices were arrayed magnificently as a veritable feast!  There was another huge area where the meats, fish, cheeses, walnuts, different sorts of flour etc. were all arrayed. It was glorious to be greeted so warmly by these people. Amy was enjoying taking lots of photographs. Her special interest is in fish because of her own research, and whilst in that area her eye was drawn to a man sitting there holding a load of massive sharp knives! Right next to him was another chap who evidently was keen to have his picture taken beside his produce. He puffed out his chest displaying his bright teeshirt and took a big puff on his cigarette! Can you imagine?

Next we found an area of the market full of flower-sellers. It is delightful to watch their skill and concentration in taking such perfect blooms of lilies and long stemmed roses, and transform them into a table setting or a massive bouquet! I shall treasure that little bit of video footage I was able to take.

To my delight, one of the women handed me a small posy of red roses and she would not accept any payment for them. There is so much generosity and kindliness amongst the Georgian people.

We found a stall where we could buy a couple of bottles of cold Borjomi water – from the natural spring we had just been visiting - and the men there immediately asked us if we were English. Ah! Manchester United! they said. The enormous Tbilisi football stadium is actually just across the way from here. Everyone is so friendly and purposeful, going about their business, earning a living or caring for their family’s health and welfare, and meanwhile welcoming strangers into their midst. We saw no signs of trouble or street crime – no young people making a nuisance of themselves either. Hoodies are not a fashion item here!

We bought ourselves some ruby-red cherries -  a stray 2p piece from my purse was evidently appreciated as a little token, because we were given an extra handful of a different variety of cherries for our enjoyment. Then off we went, back to find a taxi. Oh what a laugh we had! Such gallant taxi drivers – establishing in universal language that our destination was by the Opera! One of them mimicked an opera singer – a tenor, I think - with the flourish of his arms and a La la laaaa! Yes, that’s right, the Opera! This was real fun. We were back in next to no time.

When Zemphira arrived later on, it was a double blessing because she had brought us a beautiful bunch of Love in a Mist – her favourite flowers and mine too! I remember growing it from seed years ago. We had lots of phage updating to do, because since our last meeting, I had spent 4 weeks in the States and had met up with many of her colleagues who are working over there.

I asked whether there was any news about the Dental Biocomposite application for international funding, that we in the UK had been asked to support and did so, thanks to my school friend Jill, who is an excellent dentist locally as well as a pioneer in dentistry in Tanzania. Worldwide, dental infections are the most neglected of all.

No – despite all our efforts, evidence of great international need, joined up thinking and untapped potential, plus clear opportunities for multinational cooperation and collaboration, that funding application was unsuccessful. Of the 14 that the Georgian phage scientists have recently applied for, they were only successful with one grant. Amy confirmed that this is fairly typical. The same thing happens with Exeter University where she is a Research Fellow. However much time are these professors spending on funding applications for excellent ideas that get chucked out by grant reviewers? I hope they do not have conflicting interests. With the subject of phage science, and from my research in the States, I am not so sure. It seems there are plenty of phage scientists who do not necessarily see eye to eye. Some want to keep to research, research, research, plus patents and potential profits rather than move forward the therapeutic use of phage. Then there are others who don’t want to upset the pharmaceutical ‘status quo’ for various reasons. However can we make any progress out of that fine mess if no-one encourages a bold step forward? With funding applications it helps to have preliminary data of course. Zemphira is now applying for two grants – one on the treatment of diabetic foot and the other on phage aerosols. This brought us to the subject of the “Phages on the Battlefield” project. I explained that all our efforts with the UK embassies and trying to send news of it to the Ministry of Defence via my MP and via Washington had probably been a complete waste of time. As for the Iraqi connection and the offer of a phage training programme – I gather from my colleagues in the States that the message has fallen on stony ground on its way to Iraq too. Could it be that the message didn’t get through to the right people there either?

Could it be?

Dear oh dear.

Meanwhile there are soldiers and civilians languishing in military hospitals and field units, fighting for their lives as bacteria are getting the better of them through their wounds. And what about their families? If you were to see the scientific papers and posters with full colour pictures showing what can be achieved in a timely fashion, you would want to start asking serious questions, I am sure! Why oh why is nothing being done, when there are some solutions?

Fortunately there are now some more potential leads and meetings. It is just as well that we had such an enjoyable day because the whole sorry bacteriophage saga is extremely frustrating to research at times. I don’t know how on earth the Georgians have kept on going all these years, except that I suppose they know intuitively – as well as scientifically – that it is worth it to save lives and ease suffering from infections.

We relaxed at the Nabadi folk theatre in the evening. That is a real treat that I can recommend, full of music, fantastic costume and brilliant fast footwork in the dancing.

Now here is a topical poem:

'While officials form-letter the answer
That phages are not on their list,
The status quo is safest and cosy
And requires no thoughts of 'what if...'

What if the evidence is out there?
What if they, for once, were bold?
What if our friends, the phages,
Held benefits for mankind, untold?

While bureaucrats sort pens and papers,
And clock-watch to pension time,
Our allies those wonderful phages
Ignore them and continue to thrive.

Yes, more tests are always needed,
Especially to chemical cures;
Phages are Man's best helpers,
Natural and kindly and pure.

Saying 'No' means no further action,
While 'Yes' brings bureaucrats out in a sweat,
To acknowledge that phages are useful
Would cause turmoil, confusion, and yet…

The tide is slowly rising,
And even jobs-worths must surely take heed,
Of the benefits in using phages
In this, our hour of need.

What if the evidence is out there?
What if bureaucrats for once were bold?
What if our friend the phages,
held benefits for mankind, untold?

So, no more delaying tactics,
No more ignoring our pleas,
None are so blind as them that
Ignore what others plainly do see.'

Poem by Michael Jozefiak

We have been exploring this weekend - many miles outside the main city of Tbilisi and up in the mountains too. There are lots of photos for you to see. Do please visit the Georgia gallery - there are many more, plus lots of stories and much to my surprise, further leads about the health value of bacteriophages from a Georgian government consultant who happened to be up in the mountains too.

Also I think Stalin liked bacteriophages.

This is the lifesize statue of Joseph Stalin at Gori, his hometown a few miles outside the capital of Georgia. Underneath that specially built stone shelter in the background is the room where he was born and brought up, and underneath, the cellar where his father worked as a shoemaker.

What's afoot?

We want to stamp out superbugs, we know there's a solution,
And phages show the way to go. Let's make a resolution!
Who needs to ask the superpowers to meet around a table?
With nature's biofriendliness, bad bacteria we'll disable.

Friday afternoon was for exploring the natural environment in and around Tbilisi. We had already discovered from the guidebooks that the ancient city had been built in that location specifically because of the revitalizing properties of the water. One of the legends is that 1500 years ago, the King shot down a beautiful deer and the wounded animal stumbled into a spring. Suddenly it leapt out of the water and, to the King’s amazement, it bounded away as swift as an arrow.

A plaque by the sulphur baths reminds us that the great Russian writer, Alexander Pushkin, wrote, “I have never in my life come across anything better than baths in Tiflis” – I will take their word for it!

So perhaps it is no surprise that the Botanical Gardens are located exactly in the valley where a mountain stream is mixing with the hydrogen sulphide for those wonderful warm baths we had experienced yesterday – they are rather smelly of course. High on the rock face are the walls of the old fortress, and beside that, a wonderful old church that Dr Tengis and Dr Zemphira had taken me to, back in March. They are wonderful hosts and full of knowledge of the area. The views over the city are stunning.

On this visit, Amy and I were first of all aiming to visit the Botanical Gardens. Our taxi driver spoke no English whatsoever and possibly only knew the Georgian alphabet but we had a colour map showing the Gardens in green, and said the word ‘Botanique’. Much to our surprise, he was driving right up a hill and very soon we realized we were being taken to the huge statue of the Mother of Georgia. Oh well, that is magnificent in itself – and it gave us the chance for a super photo, plus an overview shot of the Botanical Gardens from many, many feet higher up!

We carried on, showing him the map again and stating the word ‘Botanique’! Next thing we knew, we were higher up again, at the top of the valley, by a gate firmly closed, but the sign saying in English, ‘Botanical Institute of Georgia’ – oh well, a simple mistake! 

In a few minutes the driver found a chap there who speaks English. He kindly came over to the car and established that we were really looking for the Botanical Gardens – he explained how to drive there and before we knew it, we were back down the valley approaching our destination from the correct direction. Actually we could have walked, just about, from our guest house and via the bath houses again but we weren’t sure which of the roads we should have taken. At least this had been a bit of an adventure.

We explored the old church first, and appreciated the views. You need a good foothold on those old rocks and narrow steps. The two bells sounded gently, all by themselves with the force of the wind.

The frescoes and icons inside the church are beautifully painted and cared for.  An elderly lady in the churchyard beckoned me over to sit with her and we couldn’t understand what she was saying but it was a pleasure to sit with her for a few minutes and hold her hand.  She kept saying something about ‘good eyes’ so maybe she couldn’t see too well? She appreciated a few coins from my purse and we went on our way, spotting some beekeepers tending their many hives.

The plants were getting more and more interesting. The gateway to the Botanical Garden has a little booth so it is just 1 Lari each (about 30p) entrance charge. Cheap at the price! We spent the rest of the day there just enjoying the natural environment, sunshine and fresh air.

Later we wandered across the old iron bridge and looked for signs of wildlife. There were lots of colourful butterflies and grey wagtails by the water – dragonflies too, a couple of turtledoves plus large crow-like birds high in the treetops. There were some strange sounds we certainly didn’t recognize, maybe just frogs, and beautiful flowering shrubs, oleanders, clematis etc..

A lizard darted across beside us. Looking down carefully into the sparkling water beneath us, we could make out the young fish competing for the best spots in the fast flowing, well-oxygenated water. Amy’s scientific expertise is in eco-toxicology, especially relating to the endocrine systems in fish physiology so she has picked up a lot of knowledge in identifying fish from their habitat and behavioural characteristics. She is almost sure that they are brown trout, spawned this year. It reflects well on the quality of the water and indicates that it is probably acidic since they can tolerate a lower pH than other fish.

Acidic water is very good for cleansing and disinfecting, d’you know? One of these days I can tell you a bit about the water ionizer that I have at home nowadays – it converts ordinary tap water into acidic and alkaline. You can use the acidic for washing floors, skin, clothes, bedlinen and towels, vegetables etc. and the alkaline for drinking and cooking since it has so many excellent health benefits. If you don’t believe me, check it out, like wot I did. I am happy to refer you to the experts and scientific references. The book I have here to refer to is called ‘Reverse Ageing’ so that is a good synopsis. Shh! Don’t tell the hospitals or they’ll all want one of these water ionizers … but I can let you know who to speak to.

Amy and I took the best part of an hour wandering back through the main streets again for a very welcome dinner. Everything is freshly prepared and the vegetables are so tasty. You should see the vibrancy of the local grown tomatoes! The flavour is like nothing else – you can almost taste the natural goodness of Georgian sunshine, clean air and fresh water full of nutrients.

Now may I just share with you a little gem. I've just had a DoH reply to my Dallas Airport email from 15^th May: it's worth every cent of the few dollars it cost me for half an hour online:


”Our ref: DE00000210310 

Dear Ms Filby,

Thank you for your further email of 15 May to the Department of Health about phage therapy and I apologise for the delay in replying.  
 
The Department is interested in new developments but all new therapies have to go through the normal regulatory procedures.”

Give that man a silver sticker.

      This time, travelling to Tbilisi was fairly straightforward. From the previous visit back in March, local friend Roger Mintey and I had discovered that the official advice is a bit "O.T.T." 

Rather than being concerned about the risk of being kidnapped or mugged, this time the main priorities are to ensure that my daughter Amy and I can keep up to date with our research correspondence and messages as need be, by email and phone - and that we don't get run over trying to cross the roads.  The driving style in Tbilisi is rather - er - exciting, shall we say! It's like being in a racing car but without the chequered flag - or crossing the tracks while everybody is going the other way.

Certainly it was a great help to have the guest house business card handy for when we arrived at the airport. Three or four taxi drivers put their heads together and worked out where we were going.  Not only is Georgian a different language but also a completely unique alphabet. It was a real pleasure to be recognised immediately at the door by Thomas, when I rang the bell. Amy and I have very spacious rooms on the top two floors, each with a balcony beside the fruiting walnut tree  - the same view as last time only much higher up, and very welcome internet access - plus the great hospitality and wonderful Georgian cuisine. I have UK friend and GP Cat Anderson to thank for having discovered this guest house during her visit to the Phage Therapy Center last autumn. It is a real find, and right in the middle of the city within walking distance of many of the landmarks and tourist needs such as tour agents, the Opera, the National Theatre, the British Embassy and of course  - for the purposes of this research into the health value of bacteriophages, the Phage Therapy Center.

Our schedule is very flexible although we have specific places to visit and people to see. It is just a matter of seeing how these plans will dovetail in together, now that we are here. Sometimes it is easier in person  - with a diary and notebook, rather than relying on email and messages that go astray.

So the first morning we set off bright and early down the main Rustaveli Ave, to say hello to everyone at the Phage Therapy Center and to pass on greetings and messages from several UK/US patients, plus colleagues in the States.

The weather is really super, with hardly a cloud in the sky and as we walked along, I noticed the contrasts that there are, now that this is the summer time rather than the spring.

There is so much more green, as I had hoped.  The main tree-lined avenues are cool and shaded now that they are in full leaf, whereas with the warm air and wafting breezes, you can smell the freshly baked bread and listen to the birds twittering away.  Amy was shocked by the state of the pavements, just as I was during my first visit, and we both recalled the holiday we had a few years back in Bali. The Georgian culture, level of education and rich history is much more in evidence here in the city than it was in Indonesia - but still we are feeling very lucky to have good eyesight, hearing and mobility to get around fairly independently. We still tread carefully.

Again, it was very straightforward to be able to explain to Amy the location of Prospero's, the English bookshop and coffee shop that is a useful source of written information. But perhaps we already have the essential guide books and maps that we need.  I pointed out the Post Office for postage stamps and the pharmacies (that stock phages!), plus the little street corner booths where you can change your US dollar bills for Georgian Lari. The rate is roughly three Lari to the pound sterling - to keep it simple. They are much easier than the main banks where the staff have so much bureaucracy and cannot even muster a smile without effort. 

We carried on walking, past the concert theatre where Joe Cocker had been performing the night before (but only having just arrived then, we had missed it). We were appreciating the architecture and all the many statues and monuments as I had remembered from before. It is great to see so much progress, even since March, with the city regeneration programme. Various public squares and areas of waste ground are evidently being re-surfaced and landscaped to include seating areas and flower beds - plus of course the re-fitting of shop, business and residential premises. They do have a lot to do. But there is really not much litter - no loutish behaviour - and women are busily cleaning the fronts of the shop premises, working away first thing in the morning amongst the flower sellers and souvenir stalls, and the beggars - some silent and anonymous, others rather louder - and sometimes, small children fast asleep on a bit of cardboard. There are subways to cross the busy roads.

We soon approached the university buildings, and then it was no distance when I was able to point out to Amy that this was the Phage Therapy Center. You go through the glass door, down a few steps, past the general reception area turning right past a couple of treatment rooms, one of them containing a sunbed.  We knocked on the office door and there was Shako, very welcoming and immediately going to tell the other staff that Grace Filby was here. So all of a sudden it was a bit like a party!  The three lovely nurses all came in and greeted us very warmly. It was especially delightful to see Nino again - we have had many laughs and smiles over the couple of weeks I was here before. She is a star! I gather it is standard practice for PTC patients to receive immune boosting injections twice a day during treatment, so Nino had visited the guest house many times to provide this treatment for Roger.  He had especially asked me to video it for posterity so one of these days there will be that rare treat of watching Roger's bottom being injected - on a DVD or suchlike! The things we girls have to do - all in the name of science! 

Dr Tengis, the clinic's Director, was there, plus a couple of new patients, one from Australia - Mariana - and one from China, who was having X rays taken somewhere nearby that morning, I understand.

We all sat round the desk for a while and caught up on some of the news. Roger back in the UK is still not very well. I think they have realised there have been some difficulties with his emails getting through via the USA so I agreed to write to him again so that he can specify exactly what his current symptoms are.

Fortunately Ed (from the States) is much better now since March. We do appreciate his photos that he sent on a couple of CDs for Dr Tengis and us in the UK.

It was a pleasure to meet Mariana - she has been here in Tbilisi for the last week and a half for treatment at the PTC for abdominal problems, and she told me that it is OK to say she is feeling better.

She described her treatment - she is drinking the phages -  so far, 21 ampoules -  3 in the morning and three in the evening. She has 60 to take altogether. Mariana also has the immune injections and tablets to help fermentation, plus antispasmodic tablets. She has been given a one and a half year programme with a specific diet of plain food etc..

I can add more detail of our discussions as time progresses, but it was time to go to the other end of town to make some tour arrangements so that Amy and I can get to the Borjomi area during the time she is here. Borjomi is a national park - also the home of natural springs of health-giving water and various sanitoriums (a?) over the years. The water is full of minerals and the area is a haven for flora and fauna so it must be good for us too?

An hour-long walk later we were enjoying a light lunch looking out over the magnificent golden statue of St George defeating the proverbial dragon at Freedom Square!  Actually it is a circle - a roundabout, even - with a water feature and brand new cobble stones but very magical, especially in bright sunlight and when lit up at night. That was a special treat since it was our first day - and it helped fix the place as a landmark. Little did I know that right at that moment in the British Embassy next door, the Defence Attache was writing me an email and that is another story. Maybe they are very busy being diplomatic. As with Washington DC, their focus and remit is 'strictly bilateral'.  Oh well, I am glad my remit is more relaxed, multinational and curvy. No wonder there are wars and people get injured.

We carried on to the travel agents - they were wonderfully helpful and one of them said she recognised me.  Oh gosh! Maybe it was from the Georgia Today newspaper article or from the Rustavi 2 TV Business News programme that Roger and I were featured in during my last visit.

On the way back we called into the Folk Museum to book some tickets for next week's performance.  That was a stroke of luck.  We had a great conversation with the manager and she immediately knew what I was talking about regarding my research project.  She has given me some information about a clinic that there is for local people, since a friend of hers has worked in this area. Also she told us that in terms of public awareness, she thinks about a third of the Tbilisi population know about the value of phage therapy - possibly even a half.

That is interesting, isn't it?

Suffice to say, we did a heck of a lot of walking yesterday and my feet are very sore.  It was not much fun receiving the disappointing message from the Embassy since it was just referring me back to someone new to the job at the MoD - and probably back in London, 20 miles from home! 


But after supper we made our way back to the famous sulphur baths and spent an extraordinary hour being soaked, scrubbed and lathered by a lady called Lena.

I am exploring the health value of bacteriophages as best I can!

We shall see what today brings.

.

Three bits of news today -

1.
My colleague Mike Jozefiak has very kindly sent me the links to some audio clips of our interviews with microbiologists at the 107th ASM General Meeting in Toronto.

So simply visit the Multimedia page, and voila! 


There will soon be a radio programme featuring the highlights.


2.
If you would like a takeaway website for your own research, pictures, blog etc. that you can update anywhere - as I am doing on my travels -  here's a page to visit: www.mrsite.co.uk/friends .
You can save yourself £5 just by mentioning amazingphage.info.

'Easier than Easy Website Kit' is a fair description, in my opinion.




3.
Here's your chance of a lifetime if you are a British citizen resident in the UK.

The 2008 categories for a Churchill Fellowship have just been announced.




If you have a worthwhile idea too, the Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship will help you turn your ambition into a reality, as they have done for me with this Science and Technology research project into the health value of bacteriophages in preventing and treating infections.

Researching the health value of sunlight could be a good project, couldn't it! (:))
 

It's time to start packing the suitcase for the next phase of this research. This time fortunately there will be less luggage and the one suitcase that each person is allowed nowadays will be easier to lift with two people. My bones and muscles are still aching after four weeks travelling in the US and Canada!

SERIOUS SUBJECT

(With due respect to AA Milne - and rice pudding)

What is the matter with medical men?
The obvious seems beyond their ken
On bacteriophages there’s plenty of gen.
What is the matter with medical men?

What is the matter with medical men?
The truth of it daily flows from my pen
Of antibiotics a phage is worth ten.
What is the matter with medical men?

What is the matter with medical men?
Please don’t make me say it again and again
"Synthetic cures iffy - with phage it’s just “when”!
What is the matter with medical men?

What is the matter with medical men?
I’ve told all the ministers under Big Ben
You might think it’s all complicated as Zen!
What is the matter with medical men?

What is the matter with medical men?
Do they run round not seeing like a headless hen
Or for modified phage have a patenting yen?
What is the matter with medical men?

What is the matter with medical men?
Now they’re poking at pyocins in some dark den
While round them phage wave from each bog sewer and fen!
What is the matter with medical men?


For Amazingphage.info visitors from Barrie Singleton Ó 2007   

Congratulations to my UK colleague Richard Hobday PhD who is a research fellow at the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England. His excellent book 'The Light Revolution' is featured in a full page book review - right at the front of Hospital Development magazine (May 07) on Page 8.

There are numerous key people - including the whole of the Public Accounts Committee and other MPs, who  know about this wonderful book. They have read for themselves that sunlight and vitamin D are vital for our health and wellbeing. It is yet another thing that seems to have been forgotten about over the years!



And we can't patent sunlight, alter it or stop it, can we?

Cover Price £9.99
Price from Findhorn Press Affiliates £7.99

"The sad part is that while most pharma companies want to be innovative, a lot of the regulatory agencies within the individual countries are so far behind the times...  The thought of actively introducing a virus into an organism scares most to death..."

I thought you might like to read this perspective from Jamie Critelli of Novartis Animal Health. It sums up the findings of several people, and will be a valuable addition to my Science and Technology report  for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust about the health value of bacteriophages.

It is just a matter of explaining to people - calmly and firmly - that most viruses (the bacteriophage family) are utterly harmless to other living things - all except for their one target bacterium. Bacteriophages are the most numerous life forms on Earth, thank goodness, and they are pretty helpful around the place too. Whatever is there to be scared of?

Perhaps you'd like to visit the Giant Microbes online toyshop sometime. There are lots of cute and fluffy bacteria, viruses and algae to collect - teachers love them too. They are £5.95ish, and whole sets are available at  discount prices. No phages yet but I did suggest it, along with superbugs and a family of algae.

Giant Microbes

I am receiving some interesting correspondence - thank you.

The most recent one is from a doctor in India, and unfortunately I am unable to reply directly because the email address is incomplete. However - it is a very good question and it deserves an answer.

Message: Can bacteriophages be used for pathogen control in sewage?

My answer is - yes, naturally - that is their job.

Well, what would your answer be?

These three weeks in the UK are a chance to see my family and help the other Trustees of our local Citizens Advice Bureaux with raffle prizes and tickets for a fundraising Curry and Quiz evening on 23rd June, although I shall be away at the time. I am doing a Google map for all the lovely prizes with photos acknowledging the businesses kindly donating them - so I hope it will be worth the effort! It's a very worthy cause - much needed in the Reigate and Banstead district of South East England. With any luck the tickets will be snapped up like hot cakes.

Prizes and details: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&q=&msa=0&msid=101769230756733537401.000001120a946e68588cc&hl=en&om=1&z=8&ll=51.862924,-0.22522&spn=1.468825,3.614502

Flyer: www.relax-well.co.uk


Yet there are so many messages to pass on because of the phage research!

My neighbours have been very helpful with mowing the lawn while I was travelling around the USA and Canada for 4 weeks. Maytime of course is the fastest growing season and there seems to have been no shortage of rainfall. All the plants in the back garden are looking very overgrown and in need of some care and attention. Fortunately my good friend and neighbour Ron Cooke is very happy to lend a hand with that.

There are still some arrangements to make for the next phase of my research, travelling to Georgia in Eastern Europe on 20th June. This time I shall be accompanied by my daughter Amy, who has recently been awarded a PhD in molecular biology so I think we can have some good chats about the science of sewage effluent in Tbilisi! We shall also explore a national park where there are some natural springs and a wide range of flora and fauna. A few years ago we met up in Bali after Amy had been doing a couple of months of community work in Borneo. It was just before the Bali bombing that happened just down the road from where we were staying. I doubt if any of those buildings are still there now.

May I introduce Dr Amy Filby:

 







     



                               


In Tbilisi I shall visit the Embassy again in Freedom Square. Would they would like to help with the 'Phages in the Battlefield' project since the training will be taking place in Tbilisi in September? Sadly I have not heard any more about it after my Embassy visit in Washington DC. Was my visit worthwhile? Are the British going to help with that Phages in the Battlefield project? If not, why not? And still my MP hasn't seen the PowerPoint presentation yet. However our new mayor, Cllr. Dorothy Ross-Tomlin, is happy to help enlist his support.


The last time I went to Tbilisi was to accompany Roger Mintey, a friend from Reigate, because he was going to the Phage Therapy Center for his chronic sinusitis. That also is the result of a biofilm but is very difficult to get to, inside the sinuses! He received phage treatment for several weeks but we have had several phone conversations this week - he is still not very well. So hopefully it will be possible for the Georgian doctors to establish the reason for that and help him get better again.


We were having a very interesting conversation about the filamentous phage news for treating Alzheimers (from the Toronto ASM meeting last week).


Roger and I are even wondering about its potential with brain haemorrhages, strokes, cognitive function, creativity, brain damage etc.. There is enormous potential! Think about it!  I have written a note to the Public Guardianship Office and a Dept of Health awareness-raising consultant. Maybe they will want to ask, since they have so many interested parties - national charities for the elderly, learning difficulties, autism, Alzheimers etc.. They have their work cut out with safeguarding all of these vulnerable people legally - but I am sure some of the 3000 on their mailing list would like to know there is great hope for future generations to become a healthier nation.

 I don't know if anyone else has thought of it, but really, with proper investment, thorough research and international collaboration, it could indeed transform the health services in many, many countries - and for that matter, possibly even lessen the need for special education in schools and hospitals.

Then I was having a chat with Mum and Dad about the church magazine and a very successful book sale where some of the books raised huge sums on EBay - all excellent fundraising for missionary work overseas.

It reminded me of one of the leaflets I had picked up in the Press Room at the ASM General meeting in Toronto - "Using sunlight to treat drinking water in rural India" (Technical title: Solar Disinfection Of Drinking Water In Rural India: Field Trials In Rajasthan"). I hadn't gone to that presentation but it looks like a jolly good idea to me. It was an international collaboration between scientists in the UK (Professor Rob Reed from Northumbria University) and India (Professor Isaac Bright Singh and Dr Shibu Mani from Cochin University of Science and Technology and was funded by the Wellcome Trust, UK.

It says 'ere:

"Waterborne infectious diseases are a major problem in the developing world, especially in rural areas where there are no conventional methods for treatment. This study has demonstrated a practical approach to improving water quality in such locations by exposing the water to sunlight in small plastic bottles - the process is termed 'solar disinfection'. Overall, the study demonstrated that solar disinfection is a low-cost and sustainable approach to water treatment that can reduce the impact of diarrheal diseases, and thereby improve the lives of millions in the developing world....

"The field research was carried out in two villages in the desert area of Rajasthan, India, close to Jodphur. Custom-made plastic solar disinfection bottles were distributed to selected households in each village and the villagers were taught how to fill these with their usual drinking water (this is typically untreated water from a village pond) and then to keep this water in full sunlight for a day, before drinking it. Records of the number of episodes of diarrhea or gastro-enteritis were collected for the solar disinfection treatment group and also for a control group of households, who were not using the solar disinfection system. The study was carried out for a whole year, to evaluate the effect .... The results clearly showed a reduction in the number of reported incidents of diarrhea and gastro-enteritis by around two-thirds.... An evaluation questionnaire.... "Women and children were the most enthusiastic adopters of this approach, commenting that there was an enhanced sense of well-being among family members as a result of consuming solar-treated water. This enabled them to work more effectively, either at home, at school, or in employment. Overall, solar disinfection was seen to be an effective household-level approach to water treatment, with strong positive feedback from the participants." 

I wonder why the men were less enthusiastic adopters of this approach then. Did anyone find out?

And was the research published in the British press as news?  I just thought that you would like to know.

Anyway there is something about it on the BBC website from six years ago - 2001....?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1613513.stm

We are talking about how to kill bacteria here folks - come on, wake up everybody!

 - Sunlight -

- Oxygen -


And when the sunlight and the oxygen can't reach the places inside - like your damaged brain or up your biofilm-coated sinuses - then naturally - you would need something very strategic to target the exact cause of the trouble, wouldn't you (without causing any harm though)?

Here's another choice gem fit for framing:

Please note I was given phage therapy for periodontitis at the Phage Therapy Center, Tbilisi, Georgia in March 2007. It solved the problem in about three days, rather than 4 months of doxycycline where I would have had to stay out of the sun and was not advised anything about vitamin D.

From the MHRA - 2nd May 2007 - Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines Division:

..."Treatment (with doxycycline) should cease at the first sign of erythema.* This information is given in the prescribing advice so that healthcare professionals are informed and are able to hold a discussion with their patient about the risks and benefits of treatment with doxycycline. With regard to phages, I am pleased that you have derived benefit from this technique, and I would like to thank you for offering to share your knowledge with us. At present, however, we are not aware of the need to draw on this knowledge."

Dear oh dear. Why do I bother?





* quoting from the Summary of Product Characteristics for doxycyline which is written and owned by the Marketing Authorisation Holder (ie, license holder) for a medicine.

Now, back in the UK, it is time to turn to my correspondence and feed back to you some choice gems -

This first one is very short and sweet:

Thank you to all the scientists who have added to my research today.

It was lovely to meet with Betty Kutter - she drew a little cartoon phage for me in my Winston Churchill book. Now it is packed with signatures and goodwill messages from people all over the world!

I met Rose Cooper, Rodney Donlan, Alexander Sulakvelidze, Peter Baum, Jeff Miller, Peter Taylor, Lin Tao, Parvis Sabour, Ketie Gabiti, Andrea Zelmer, Udit Minocha and many more. I am just making a note that I need to hear from David Elliott at the Ministry of Defence: it is all about Anthrax and bioterrorism. Please would they have a little word with the Medical Research Council?

If he would like to give me a call, I'll explain.

Sadly, I have had a reply today from my MP's assistant that they are still far too busy to forward my PowerPoint presentation to the Minister at the MoD - because they are dealing with other health-related issues in our constituency - saving a hospital - and also something to do with Iran. Oh well, maybe the bacteria will wait until everyone is less busy ...  (I don't think they will though).

He said he would draft a letter next week.  So that will be after the Bank Holiday Monday.

It’s Wednesday so it must be Toronto – the 107^th General Meeting for the American Society for Microbiology.  My UK colleague, Mike Jozefiak, has met up and this makes everything much easier for me since he has already discovered in the previous 24 hours exactly how to find one’s way round the city – obtained weekly passes for the transport system and also attended the press briefing on the first day. He had raised a few questions about bacteriophages. Hopefully the other people there would now have heard the word, at least.  

It is daft really. Phages are considered to be a specialized subject – hardly anyone in the general public has even heard of them – and yet, we were to be assured during one of the afternoon presentations, that bacteriophages are the most numerous life forms on earth! That is something, isn’t it!  The estimation is ten to the power of 31 – 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

The symposium room had enough space for maybe 150-200 at any one time. Many of the rooms were much larger - anyway, this one was full for the whole two and a half hours.

First talk:

This was about luminescing E.coli to make detection much faster. It is going to be especially helpful with Mycobacterium and Anthrax.  We all liked the little animated cartoon on the last slide - a little phage who lifts his hat to acknowledge all those who have helped, and all those who have attended!

Second talk:

This was about 'zip coding' phages to the exact spot in the vascular system. It would be especially useful for delivering medicine to tumours precisely - or to fat cells to counteract obesity. There was a photo of two mice - one very fat, one normal. The very fat one was untreated - without the help of the targeted phage, and the other one was successfully treated with it. There are numerous drugs that could be delivered in this way to specific cells - one being developed is bluntly called 'Fat Zapper'.

The speaker pointed out that it could be for tissue-specific imaging that monitors as well as predicts tumours. Would this "hybrid virus' (AKA bacteriophage) therefore help against cancer?  All very interesting. The Houston Chronicle had included that in a headline some time ago.

Third talk:

Alzheimers affects 4 million Americans and that number is going to escalate hugely unless something is done PDQ. It is apparently a loss of brain tissue - it could be mainly a protein abnormality. However the presenter was telling us that phages with antigens restored the cognitive ability of mice, with no side effects.  They are using unlytic filamentous phages! Because of their unique shape, being filamentous, they are able to penetrate the membrane, opening the way for various new treatments of neurological diseases.

For example, they restored the olfactory function by 50 percent over six months in mice.

They also injected the brain and compared one half with the other. They did memory tests and smell tests (repulsion to the smell of mint, and a little cartoon with "Don't know about you, Bruno, but I can smell mint!"

The loss of the sense of smell is one of the first signs of Alzheimers.

The presenter pointed out again that there were no adverse effects in peripheral organs - all was normal.

This subject matter was very well received, but I was wondering why so many people were leaving at this point?  There was a joke query about whether phage therapy could even be a cure for baldness!  Clearly, the audience was getting the message that phages have an enormously wide potential in the future of medicine for the 21st century, and could benefit absolutely millions of people if it is progressed with sufficient research and development.

As an aside, we noted that M13 is everywhere -  the Tel Aviv University scientists checked all the staff but didn't check with Alzheimers patients - that is something that could be done next.

Fourth talk:

This was Dr Randall Wolcott's talk.  2 million people a year require wound care in the States. He showed us a picture of Tommy's foot. If a wound like that results in a decision to amputate (standard procedure) the statistics are 80% mortality in 5 years, but if not amputated, the risk of mortality in 5 years would be reduced to 20%. Worth at least trying to save the foot, don't you think? This is what they are doing with phage therapy in Lubbock, Texas at the Wound Care Center.

If you are new to this blog, do visit the earlier pages from 29th April through to 15th May  - all about my visit to the Wound Care Center on the first part of this journey.

Bacterial biofilm is a major barrier to wound healing. There were gasps from the audience when some video clips were shown of the slough/biofilm being debrided from some chronic wounds. Dr Wolcott was asking the microbiologists now - please would they help him kill these biofilms? Next he showed us the little clip of Terminator 2 - there was spontaneous applause! The hero, Arnold Schwarzenneger was trying to 'terminate' the enemy with wonderful special effects, and the clip was showing how the enemy could reconstitute itself from the smallest piece of debris to be as virulent and dangerous as before. It was going to be a contant battle, too, with biofilm to ensure every particle of biofilm was cleaned out of a wound otherwise, like the Terminator, this polymicrobial biofilm simply returns, large as life, by the next day.

It has to be a multi-pronged approach -  Multiple Concurrent Strategies!

Then we heard about examples in everyday life of biofilm debridement techniques. First off - what about a loo brush! What a picture he found to illustrate that -  a little boy with his head down the toilet pan!

Next example was the toothbrush industry- combined with the multimillion dollar toothpaste industry, we have a prime example of multiple strategies so the wound care debridement specialists can learn plenty from them!

There was an absolutely gross video film showing phages being applied through a 'tunnel' approach - I won't describe it because I shut my eyes for most of it!

Anyway, ultrasound can also be used to apply phages. The patient was a 43 year old nurse, and phages contributed to saving his leg.

For the sake of all these microbiologists, he quoted a bit of research - "This comes out of "Nature" so it's really scientific! I knew you guys wouldn't listen if I didn't include something scientific"! It brought a laugh. He also included a graph, just as the other speakers had done. He was repeating the message - please help kill the biofilm - harness the power of bacteriophage. He told everyone about Lasha's very latest research - that Dan had printed out for me one evening, two weeks ago when he had just got the results, showing the extraordinary synergistic effect of phage and DispersinB (an enzyme). Applied both together, they didn't just suppress the growth of biofilm temporarily but gave a long lasting effect for up to 4 days! It really shows the power of bacteriophage if it is exploited clinically and made use of creatively, perhaps.

These were the topics of the queries from the audience:

1. The FDA wouldn't entertain anything other than lytic phages.

2. There are 5 species of phages in the experiment - in a wound, between 20 and 30.

3. Quorum sensing.

4. How often are phages being used at the Wound Care Center? The answer is that they are being used for the clinical trial and for rescue stuff.

Fifth talk:

This was about natural whole phages, modified phages and phage-derived bactericidal proteins being used to help with getting rid of E coli 0157 in cattle and Campylobacter in poultry, prior to slaughter. Also that company are doing other work in India on the prevention and treatment of MRSA. He quoted the 'in vivo'efficacy.

The speaker also spoke about self-limiting phages. His talk demonstrated the feasibility of phages in food safety and human/animal health - and also how scientists from all over the world are collaborating and "harnessing a billion years of bacteriophage success".

Finally the afternoon session had come to a close, but the best part of the afternoon was yet to start. We were introduced to numerous very eminent phage scientists and arranged to meet up socially and also float off to Niagara Falls for the light show on Friday evening!

The next two days would be for a videoing an interview and also visiting the poster exhibits where scientists from all over the world are revealing their phage discoveries to the rest of the 12,000 microbiologists attending.

I would like to say a special word of thanks to Peter Baum of the American Society for Microbiology, for his assistance with my research and for arranging with Socrates that I could take some general video footage. It was a pleasure to be there; the location was first-rate and it was very helpful to have access to internet facilities throughout the event.

A couple of days in the fresh air of Virginia Beach have highlighted more contrasts in climate and vegetation.  The Chesapeake/Bay area is home to plenty of wildlife, as well as being a very civilised place for human beings. I have seen pelicans, nesting ospreys, white egrets, cardinal birds, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and of course the usual rabbits and squirrels in the tall wooded areas. Flying above Norfolk Aiport on Sunday en route to my next destination in Illinois, I could see the massive dock area in Virginia (and maybe the military base?), the rivers and creeks, plus bridges somehow that had made travelling round the area so simple. Along the coastline were the long lazy stretches of golden white sand, smiling at the Atlantic Ocean. There is even a 17-mile long bridge here. It is only just one week before the summer season starts so I had managed to avoid tourist crowds, but the temperature has been very variable.