The History and Promising Future of Phage Therapy in the Military Service

The continuous evolvement of bacterial resistance to most, if not all currently available antibiotics is a worldwide problem. These strains, frequently isolated from military-associated environments, have created an urgent need to develop supplementary anti-infective modalities. One of the leading directions is phage therapy, which includes the administration of bacteriophages, viruses that specifically target bacteria, as bio-therapies. Though neglected in the West until recent years, bacteriophages have been widely studied and clinically administered in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for over a century, where they were found to be incredibly efficient at battling numerous infectious diseases. In this review, we will discuss the high potential of phage therapy as a solution for resistant bacterial infectious diseases relating to military medicine. By describing the historical development and knowledge acquired on phage therapy, we will define the advantages of bacteriophages for combating resistant bacteria in multiple settings, such as trauma injuries, foodborne illnesses, as a preventative tool and therapy against biological warfare agents, and more. We will also present the most recent successful clinical applications of bacteriophages in military settings worldwide. We believe that augmenting military medicine by integrating Phage Therapy is an important and required step in preparedness for the rapidly approaching post-antibiotic era. Corresponding Author: Ronen Hazan, PhD. Institute of Dental Sciences and School of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University, Hadassah Campus, Jerusalem P.O.B 12272, Israel 91120; Email: ronenh@ekmd.huji.ac.il, Phone: 972-2-6758588 Conflict of interest statement: The Authors do not have any conflict of interest. Meeting: This article was motivated by the poster presentation entitled “Bacteriophages vs Anthrax: Development of phage-based therapy against Bacillus anthracis infection” by Alkalay et al. presented in the 2017 MHSRS conference, Florida. © 2018 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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