A Natural Foe of Bacteria Rescues Husband When Antibiotics Fail
In a race against time to save her husband's life from an antibiotic-resistant superbug, a brilliant scientist discovers an unconventional cure - phage therapy Witness the incredible journey of hope, resilience, and the power of nature's own enemy against bacteria
In February 2016, Steffanie Strathdee, an infectious disease epidemiologist, was by her husband's side as he fought a losing battle against a deadly superbug infection. After enduring months of uncertainty, doctors delivered the devastating news that her husband, Tom Patterson, was too overwhelmed by bacteria to survive.
I said to him, "Sweetheart, time is running out. I need to know if you want to survive. I'm not sure if you can hear me, but if you can and you want to live, please give my hand a squeeze."
Suddenly, he squeezed tightly. I thought, "Oh, fantastic!" But then I thought, "Oh no, what do I do now?"
Strathdee would place cool cloths on her husband's forehead during his extended illness to try to break his many fevers.
Steffanie Strathdee's next achievement could only be described as miraculous. She uncovered an obscure treatment that presented a glimmer of hope in the fight against superbugs using phages, which are viruses naturally created to consume bacteria.
She then persuaded phage researchers nationwide to search extensively through various environments such as sewage, bogs, ponds, the bilge of boats, and other areas where bacteria and their viral adversaries thrived. Their seemingly impossible task was to swiftly locate the rare, exceptionally unique phages with the ability to combat a specific strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that was ravaging her husband's health.
Following this, the US Food and Drug Administration needed to approve this untested blend of hope, and scientists had to refine the concoction to ensure it wouldn't be harmful.
Just three weeks later, Strathdee witnessed doctors injecting the mixture into her husband's body through an IV, ultimately saving his life. Their story reflects unwavering determination and incredible luck, paying homage to the generosity of unfamiliar individuals. This narrative has the potential to rescue numerous lives from the increasing danger of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, maybe even your own.
"By 2050, it is estimated that 10 million people per year, equivalent to one person every three seconds, will die from a superbug infection," Strathdee informed the audience at Life Itself, a 2022 health and wellness event held in partnership with CNN.
"I am here to convey that the enemy of my enemy can become my friend. Viruses have the potential to be used as medicine."
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How this 'perfect predator' saved his life after nine months in the hospital
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A terrifying vacation
While on a Thanksgiving cruise along the Nile in 2015, Patterson was unexpectedly struck by intense stomach cramps. After receiving inadequate treatment at a clinic in Egypt, he was transported to Germany, where physicians identified a large abdominal abscess filled with Acinetobacter baumannii, a highly resistant bacterium that is resistant to almost all antibiotics.
The bacteria known as "Iraqibacter" were discovered in the sand of the Middle East and ended up in the wounds of American troops injured by roadside bombs during the Iraq War. As a result, many veterans who were medevaced home after being injured by IED explosions brought the bacteria with them, and sadly, many did not survive the resulting infections.
Today, Acinetobacter baumannii is at the top of the World Health Organization's list of dangerous pathogens that urgently require new antibiotics.
"This bacterium is like a bacterial kleptomaniac. It is highly adept at taking antimicrobial resistance genes from other bacteria," Strathdee explained. "I came to the realization that my husband was much sicker than I had initially realized, and that modern medicine had exhausted all available antibiotics for his treatment."
Patterson was medevaced to San Diego, where he was a professor of psychiatry and Strathdee was the associate dean of global health sciences at the University of California. Dr. Robert "Chip" Schooley, a leading infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego and a longtime friend of Patterson, described his condition as a roller coaster of improvement and deterioration, eventually leading to multi-organ failure.
Patterson's body was systemically infected with a virulent drug-resistant bacteria that also infected troops in the Iraq War, earning the pathogen the nickname "Iraqibacter."
Steffanie Strathdee
Searching for a needle in a haystack
After receiving a reassuring hand squeeze from her husband, Strathdee immediately took action. She searched the internet and came across a study by a researcher in Tbilisi, Georgia, focusing on the use of phages to treat drug-resistant bacteria. After making a phone call, she learned that phage treatment was widely used in former Soviet bloc countries but had been dismissed as "fringe science" in the West.
"Phages are omnipresent, with an estimated 10 million trillion trillion (10 to the power of 31) phages inhabiting the planet," Strathdee explained. "They exist in soil, water, oceans, and within our bodies, acting as guardians that regulate bacterial populations. However, finding the appropriate phage to combat specific troublesome bacteria is crucial."
Inspired by her recent understanding, Strathdee started contacting phage researchers, stating, "I sent unsolicited emails to complete strangers, pleading for assistance," as revealed at Life Itself.
The first to respond was Ryland Young, a biochemist at Texas A&M University who has been researching phages for more than 45 years. "When I say persuasive, I mean nobody can convince you like Steffanie," said Young, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics who leads the university's Center for Phage Technology lab. "We put everything else on hold. I'm not exaggerating when I say that people were working around the clock, screening 100 different environmental samples just to find a few new phages."
No problem
As the Texas lab worked tirelessly through the night, Schooley made efforts to secure FDA approval for administering the phage cocktail to Patterson. Given that phage therapy has not been through clinical trials in the United States, each instance of "compassionate use" necessitated extensive documentation. It's a procedure that can devour valuable time.
The woman at the FDA assured Schooley that they could provide what he needed and even offered to enlist the help of her friends in the Navy to locate phages. As it turned out, the US Naval Medical Research Center had a collection of phages from various seaports and quickly located several that showed promise in fighting the bacterium.
Dr. Robert "Chip" Schooley (left) and Dr. Randy Taplitz after injecting Patterson with the first round of phages at UC San Diego Medical Center.
Carly DeMento
In Texas, Young and his team had a stroke of luck. They discovered four phages that showed promise in fighting Patterson's antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a test tube. However, the real challenge now was to determine how to isolate the successful phages from the remaining bacterial toxins.
According to Young, "When you put a single virus particle into a culture and leave for lunch, you may return to find a large, shaking, liquid mess of dead bacteria parts surrounded by billions and billions of the virus, if you're lucky." He continued, "You aim to inject these virus particles into the human bloodstream, but you start with bacterial goo that is just awful. You would not want that injected into your body."
Schooley mentioned that purifying phage for intravenous administration was a process that had not yet been perfected in the US, but both the Navy and Texas A&M had made progress using different approaches to clean the phages to the point where they could be given safely.
Additional Obstacles: The legal team at Texas A&M raised issues about potential legal action. Young recalled, "I remember the lawyer saying to me, 'So let me get this straight. You're looking to send unapproved viruses from this lab for injection into a person who will likely die.' And I replied, 'Yeah, that's about right.'"
"In contrast, Stephanie had direct lines to the chancellor and other key figures involved in human experimentation at UC San Diego. Once she contacted them, they reached out to their counterparts at A&M, and from there, they started collaborating," added Young.
"It was like the parting of the Red Seaall the paperwork and hesitation disappeared."
It was just miraculous
Young's lab's purified cocktail was the first to arrive in San Diego. Strathdee observed as doctors administered the Texas phages into the pus-filled abscesses in Patterson's abdomen, then settled in for the agonizing wait.
"We focused on the abscesses because we were unsure of the outcome, and we wanted to avoid causing harm," Schooley explained. "We didn't observe any adverse effects; in fact, Tom appeared to be showing some improvement, so we continued the treatment every two hours."
Two days later, the Navy cocktail was delivered and the phages were injected into Patterson's bloodstream to combat the bacteria that had spread throughout his body.
"We believe Tom was the pioneer in undergoing intravenous phage therapy to address a systemic superbug infection in the US," Strathdee shared with CNN.
"And three days later, Tom lifted his head off the pillow out of a deep coma and kissed his daughters hand. It was just miraculous."
Patterson awoke from a coma after receiving an intravenous dose of phages tailored to his bacteria.
Steffanie Strathdee
Damaged but not broken
Fast forward to today, almost eight years later, and Patterson is enjoying a happy retirement, taking daily 3-mile walks and tending to his garden. However, the prolonged illness has left its mark: he has been diagnosed with diabetes and now requires insulin, as well as experiencing mild heart damage and gastrointestinal issues that have impacted his dietary habits.
"He's not back surfing yet because he's lost sensation in the soles of his feet. He had Covid-19 in April, which hospitalized him due to severe lung damage," Strathdee explained.
"When the infection affected his lungs, he struggled to breathe and I had to rush him to the hospital. It was terrifying," she added. "He's still at high risk for Covid, but we're not letting that confine us to our home. He's determined to return to a more normal life as soon as possible."
The couple is once again traveling the world. They have recently returned from a 12-day trip to Argentina. "We traveled with a friend who is an infectious disease doctor, which gave me peace of mind to know that if anything went sideways, we'd have an expert at hand," Strathdee said, emphasizing the value of their companion's expertise.
"I guess Im a bit of a helicopter wife in that sense. Still, weve traveled to Costa Rica a couple of times, weve been to Africa, and were planning to go to Chile in January."
A legacy
"The Perfect Predator" is a blow-by-blow account by the couple of the fight to savePatterson's life.
Hachette Books
Pattersons case was published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in 2017, jump-starting new scientific interest in phage therapy.
"The number of clinical trials in phage (science) has experienced a significant increase worldwide. Countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, India, and China have established phage programs. This trend is gaining momentum," explained Strathdee to CNN.
A significant portion of the research is dedicated to examining the relationship between phages and antibiotics. As bacteria engage in battle with phages, they frequently shed their outer layer to prevent the phages from docking and gaining access to kill them. This defensive mechanism may result in the bacteria becoming susceptible to antibiotics once again.
"We believe that phages will not fully replace antibiotics, but they can be a valuable addition to antibiotic treatment. In fact, they can enhance the effectiveness of antibiotics," stated Strathdee.
In 2018, Strathdee and Schooley established the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) in San Diego, where they provide treatment and support to patients with multidrug-resistant infections. According to the center's website, they have achieved a high success rate, with 82% of patients undergoing phage therapy achieving a clinically successful outcome.
Schooley is conducting a clinical trial utilizing phages to combat Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients. This drug-resistant bacteria was linked to illness and deaths from tainted eye drops made in India. Additionally, their memoir "The Perfect Predator: A Scientists Race to Save Her Husband From a Deadly Superbug," published in 2019, aims to educate and inspire the next generation of phage hunters.
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How naturally occurring viruses could help treat superbug infections
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"I am receiving more and more messages from students, some as young as 12," Strathdee shared. "There's a girl in San Francisco who persuaded her mother to read this book and now she's working on a science project about phage-antibiotic synergy, and she's in eighth grade. That excites me."
Strathdee is grateful for the many individuals who played a part in saving her husband's life. However, those who were involved in the process told CNN that she and Patterson were the ones who made a difference.
"I believe it was a unique twist of fate that could only have happened to Steffanie and Tom," Young remarked. "They were at UC San Diego, a top-tier university in the country. They collaborated with an exceptional infectious disease doctor who agreed to phage therapy when most other doctors would have refused."
"Steffanie's passion and energy are difficult to put into words until she directs it towards you. It's like a spiderweb; she's at the center pulling all the strings," Young continued. "I believe it was destined to happen because of her."
