The document summarizes a study that tested the effectiveness of using bacteriophages to treat lung infections in mice. Mice were used as test subjects because their biology is similar to humans. The study found that mice given a ratio of bacteriophage to infecting bacteria greater than 0.1/1 had a 100% survival rate, supporting the hypothesis that bacteriophage therapy can effectively treat lung infections. Figures in the document show survival rates increased and infection times decreased in mice treated with bacteriophages. The author concludes that bacteriophage treatment prevented infection when administered at least 24 hours in advance and could potentially be developed to treat bacterial infections in humans.
The document summarizes a study that tested the effectiveness of using bacteriophages to treat lung infections in mice. Mice were used as test subjects because their biology is similar to humans. The study found that mice given a ratio of bacteriophage to infecting bacteria greater than 0.1/1 had a 100% survival rate, supporting the hypothesis that bacteriophage therapy can effectively treat lung infections. Figures in the document show survival rates increased and infection times decreased in mice treated with bacteriophages. The author concludes that bacteriophage treatment prevented infection when administered at least 24 hours in advance and could potentially be developed to treat bacterial infections in humans.
The document summarizes a study that tested the effectiveness of using bacteriophages to treat lung infections in mice. Mice were used as test subjects because their biology is similar to humans. The study found that mice given a ratio of bacteriophage to infecting bacteria greater than 0.1/1 had a 100% survival rate, supporting the hypothesis that bacteriophage therapy can effectively treat lung infections. Figures in the document show survival rates increased and infection times decreased in mice treated with bacteriophages. The author concludes that bacteriophage treatment prevented infection when administered at least 24 hours in advance and could potentially be developed to treat bacterial infections in humans.
1/30/15 Questions: 1) The Author used mice because their genetic, biological and behavioral characteristics are similar to those of humans. Mice are also easy to maintain, observe, inexpensive and can reproduce quickly. 2) The author pointed out that there have been no tests of Pseudomonas bacteriophages on lung infection models. Another question that the author poses is if the mice are infected with a noticeable lung infection, will the bacteriophage affect them, and just how efficient is phage therapy. 3) Using a model, the author tried to determine if the bacteriophage therapy would work and how efficient it is. 4) The hypothesis made was that if the bacteriophage is isolated from the environment, then it would be suitable for therapeutic use in an animal lung infection model. 5) The independent variables of the experiment were how large the bacteria-tobacteriophage ratio was that was given to the mice and the dependent variable is how long would the mice survive. 6) The controls of this experiment were how old the mice were (8 weeks), the gender of the mice (since they were all male), all of the bacteriophages were diluted into a phosphate-buffered saline solution. 7) Figure1 shows that 100% of the mice that received the bacteriophage to infection bacteria ratio greater than .1/1 survived, which supports their hypothesis that the bacteriophage therapy was effective. 8) Figure 1 shows the ratio of bacteriophage-to-infection-bacteria that was given to the mice and their survival rates based off that. Figure 3 shows the amount of time that the mice survived after the infection was initiated. The author claims that the PAK-P1 bacteriophage treatment, even in higher doses, was harmless to the mice after 10 extended days of observation and that bacteriophages multiplied inside the lungs of both infected and infected bacteriophage-treated animals. I believe their claims are reliable because their evidence is mostly backed up with reliable images and graphs. 9) The final claims made by the author are: the experiment demonstrates that bioluminescent technology is effective in studying infections kinetics and bacteriophage treatment, and bacteriophages can prevent infections from occurring if administrated at least 24 hours in advance. These claims do seem reasonable, considering the numbers and figures that support the claims. 10) These results matter to humans because if bacteriophage treatment is successful for mice, that means there is a chance that it will also work on humans and we can take this kind of technology and advance it in order to prevent or cure other similar bacterial infections in humans.