'Phage therapy can kill bacteria'

Prof Gopal Nath of the Microbiology Department at  BHU claimed that the phage therapy has been found to be successful in killing “pseudomonas aeruginosa,” which also is a “superbug.”

Prof  Nath, who has been engaged in research work for the last three years to find a way to kill the superbugs under a Department of Bio-technology project, said the phage therapy was successfully used for killing the “pseudomonas aeruginosa” superbug in mice.

“The project will be complete in 2011,” Prof Nath told Deccan Herald from Varanasi. He claimed that the therapy could kill any superbug, including the NDM-1, superbug. “The therapy would be ready for treating any superbug in human beings in a about a year’s time,” he added. Conventionally speaking, the “Phage therapy” involves the use of viruses that invade and kill harmful bacterial cells. This therapy is said to be an effective treatment for patients, who have bacterial infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotic therapies.

Prof  Nath dismissed the ongoing controversy with regard to the superbug and said it was nothing but a ploy to defame India. “They (West) just want to defame our country,” he added.

“In fact the western countries are perturbed over India’s emergence as a hub of medical tourism. It will adversally affect their monopoly in the health sector,” Prof Nath said. He regretted that there was no antibiotic policy in the country. “We urgently need one,” he said.

Incidently Nath’s colleague at BHU, Dr M R Sen, had led one of the six teams of researchers that contributed to the Lancet study. Dr Sen is also reported to have expressed his disagreement with the paper’s recommendation advising against cosmetic surgeries in India.