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Week 6[19-25.11.18] Virus that cure diseases

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Have you ever heard of a virus that is hunting and killing other viruses? Viruses have a bad reputation - but some of them could one day save your life, says biotech entrepreneur Alexander Belcredi. In this fascinating talk, he introduces us to phages, naturally-occurring viruses that hunt and kill harmful bacteria with deadly precision, and shows how these once-forgotten organisms could provide new hope against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs". Hope you will enjoy this video as much as I did.

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Questions:
1) Do you agree with the speaker?
2) Do you think will phages take leading place in future medicine? Maybe it will replace antibiotics on pharmacy market?
3) Would you use/recommend phages to cure disease?

Comments

Bartosz Kiwerski said…
1) Do you agree with the speaker?
I do agree with the speaker, I think phages can be great substitute for antibiotics.

2) Do you think will phages take leading place in future medicine? Maybe it will replace antibiotics on pharmacy market?
I think the most likely is that there will be both, phages and antibiotics on the pharmacy market.

3) Would you use/recommend phages to cure disease?
I would use phages to cure some serious disease, if they would not work, then there are always antibiotics remaining.
20 November 2018 at 09:40
Vladlen Kyselov said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
20 November 2018 at 16:25
Vladlen Kyselov said…
Thank you for your answer, but still I think that antibiotics won`t be as popular as phages, because as a speaker mentioned some viruses evolved and became immune to antibiotics that we produce and people are suffering from "super-viruses", that might be, in my opinion, the key point on pharmacy market in the nearest future.
20 November 2018 at 16:25
Kyrylo Proskurin said…
Soo, basically they invented a vaccine? Well, some new form of a vaccine. But the main point is the same -- using bacteria to kill other bacteria. Kind of makes sense.
20 November 2018 at 19:30
Vladlen Kyselov said…
Actually they didn`t invent it, they just investigated and found out that there are such bacterias called phages that always have been in our world, but we didn`t put enough of our attention to them and how we can use them.
20 November 2018 at 22:25
Bartosz Kiwerski said…
Maybe they won't but some people are not abusing the antibiotics, and they will use them probably because of the prices which certainly gonna be much higher for phages.
24 November 2018 at 08:54
Unknown said…
I agree with the speaker. I think you can use phages as a substitute for antibiotic.
I think the market will be diverse. It is possible that if research shows that phages are better and safer than antibiotics, then the market may change.
If they do not affect the body, why not?
25 November 2018 at 01:05
Michał Jakubowicz said…
Yes, I partially agree with the speaker. I have recently watched another movie about topic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3tsmFsrOg), which was a little bit more scientific. In this TED talk, the speaker suggested that phages are miracle panaceas for bacterial infections. If one think about it, that phages can easily kill every bacteria from certain species, why there are bacteria present in the world? In the movie that I watched, it was explained, that bacteria can evolve to become immune to certain phages. They can change they cell wall so that a phage can no longer attach itself. However it was also said, that such changed cell wall becomes vulnerable to antibiotics. The works in the opposite way as well, if cell is immune to antibiotics, it cannot defend itself against phages. Therefore, in my opinion, phages are excellent solution to support antibiotics. If we would just replace antibiotics with phages, the would repeat as well.
Unfortunately, as far I as know, there is another issue with phages. It is true that they are infecting only bacteria, but they are viruses after all. The speaker didn’t mention how viruses can “reprogram”, but if I remember correctly, they are doing it by merging they RNA/DNA with bacteria DNA. The problem is when such virus isolate their genetic material from their host. It often mutates because it cuts more or less RNA/DNA than it was in original virus.
Therefore I would like to see phages drugs, but I think that this require more research to ensure that harmless phage won’t mutate into some killing disease.
25 November 2018 at 12:59
Illia Loshchinin said…
1) Do you agree with the speaker?
Yes, I do. This is interesting solution for accurate exposure on bad viruses.
2) Do you think will phages take leading place in future medicine? Maybe it will replace antibiotics on pharmacy market?
Yes, like other students I agree with them that the phages will not replace existing solution in medicine, but may be a good alternative choice in the future.
3) Would you use/recommend phages to cure disease?
I do not have enough information to advise or use it :)
25 November 2018 at 21:17
Andrusyshyn Vlad said…
Yes, I am more or less agree with the speaker. I have watched some videos about it. It's definitely not alternative to antibiotics, but It should be noted that use of bacteriophages and antibiotics for medical purposes should not be opposed. With their joint action, mutual enhancement of the antibacterial effect is observed. This allows, for example, to reduce the dose of antibiotics to values that do not cause pronounced side effects. Accordingly, the mechanism for the production of bacteria resistance to both components of the combined drug is almost impossible. Overall, bacteriophages serve not so much as an alternative, as an addition and an enhancement in the fight against infections.
I think, phages will take leading place in future medicine, it's promising direction.
I would use and recommend phages to cure diseases , no doubts.
25 November 2018 at 22:34
Maksym Serhiienko said…
I have seen this video before. Yes, I think that this is interesting way in fighting with viruses and maybe more efficient but this is new technology and we must make enough amount of tests to make sure that all works well. Our body is very complicated mechanism that can react in different ways for a different actions taken by medicine and we need to be careful with this. I prefer to not take drugs while I understand that I'm not in critical state and I believe that my body must fight with viruses as long as it can.
25 November 2018 at 23:25
ExoKuzo said…
I agree , I think they could replace antibiotics in near future. We just need to keep in mind that extensive use might lead to unexpected results and mutations withing DNA code.

As of now if using phages to cure my disease would be my only option i would probably accept it, but if it was not necessary i would probably stay away, atleas for the time being.
25 November 2018 at 23:51
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