Anomaly Jonathan
University of Pennsylvania.
Public Health Ethics. 2020 Feb 20;13(1):82-88. doi: 10.1093/phe/phaa003. eCollection 2020 Apr.
For over a century, scientists have run experiments using phage viruses to treat bacterial infections. Until recently, the results were inconclusive because the mechanisms viruses use to attack bacteria were poorly understood. With the development of molecular biology, scientists now have a better sense of how phage work, and how they can be used to target infections. As resistance to traditional antibiotics continues to spread around the world, there is a moral imperative to facilitate research into phage therapy as an alternative treatment. This essay reviews ethical questions raised by phage therapy, and discusses regulatory challenges associated with phage research, and phage treatments.
一个多世纪以来，科学家们一直在进行使用噬菌体病毒治疗细菌感染的实验。直到最近，由于对病毒攻击细菌的机制了解不足，实验结果尚无定论。随着分子生物学的发展，科学家们现在对噬菌体的工作方式以及如何利用它们来靶向感染有了更清晰的认识。随着对传统抗生素的耐药性在全球范围内不断蔓延，从道德层面出发，有必要推动将噬菌体疗法作为替代治疗方法的研究。本文回顾了噬菌体疗法引发的伦理问题，并讨论了与噬菌体研究和噬菌体治疗相关的监管挑战。
