The Phage Therapy Center was founded in 2005 in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was the world’s first clinic of its kind, providing phage therapy services to international patients. The clinic, staffed by both medical microbiologists and medical doctors treats a broad range of bacterial infections; from simple infections to complex surgical procedures. The clinic’s medical microbiologist is Prof. Zemphira Alavidze, PhD who was formerly head of the Eliava Institute laboratory that maintained and manufactured Intesti Bacteriophage and Pyo Bacteriophage cocktails. Notably, Dr. Zemphira appears in the opening scene of, and throughout, the BBC 2 documentary called “The Virus that Cures”.
Conditions that the clinic has addressed in the past include; acne, bedsores, bladder infections, bronchiectasis, bronchitis, infected burns, chronic non-healing infected wounds, colitis, cystic fibrosis, diabetic foot, dysbiosis/pathogenic intestinal flora, ear infections (otitis media), gingivitis, intestinal infections, laryngitis, lung infections, lyme disease, mastitis, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, nose/throat infections, osteomyelitis, prostatitis and associated sexual problems, infected prosthesis, sinusitis (rhinosinusitis), rosacea, skin boils/abscess/lesions, tracheitis, tropic ulcers, urinary tract infections and cystitis, and vaginitis.
The Phage Therapy Center works with bacteriophages against these main pathogens and others:
- Burkholderia cepacia
- Clostridium difficile
- Escherichia coli
- Enterococcus spp.
- Klebsiella spp.
- Morganella spp.
- Proteus spp.
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Salmonella spp.
- Several other bacterial strains that are emerging as significant challenges even to the most advanced antibiotics
- Bacterial infections complicated with Candida and other yeast/fungi
Phage therapy can be general as well as specific or individualized. Treatments are mainly outpatient with the exception of conditions that require surgery. Patients may contact the clinic directly, however, before traveling to the clinic it is advised to contact the clinic and one-on-one calls are arranged between prospective patients and the clinic doctors every Tuesday morning (US time) at no charge. Specimens and medical history are normally sent in advance from patients, and any additional information can be found on the website.
Publications
Sulakvelidze A, Alavidze Z, Morris JG Jr. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2001 Mar;45(3):649-59. DOI: 10.1128/AAC.45.3.649-659.2001. PMID: 11181338 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract is available.
Phage therapy in clinical practice: treatment of human infections
Kutter E, De Vos D, Gvasalia G, Alavidze Z, Gogokhia L, Kuhl S, Abedon ST. Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2010 Jan;11(1):69-86. DOI: 10.2174/138920110790725401. PMID: 20214609 Review.
What Can We Learn from a Metagenomic Analysis of a Georgian Bacteriophage Cocktail?
Zschach H, Joensen KG, Lindhard B, Lund O, Goderdzishvili M, Chkonia I, Jgenti G, Kvatadze N, Alavidze Z, Kutter EM, Hasman H, Larsen MV. Viruses. 2015 Dec 12;7(12):6570-89. DOI: 10.3390/v7122958. PMID: 26703713 PMC article.
Characterization of lytic Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophages via biological properties and genomic sequences
Karumidze N, Thomas JA, Kvatadze N, Goderdzishvili M, Hakala KW, Weintraub ST, Alavidze Z, Hardies SC. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2012 Jun;94(6):1609-17. DOI: 10.1007/s00253-012-4119-8. Epub 2012 May 6. PMID: 22562168
Bacteriophage therapy for refractory Pseudomonas aeruginosa urinary tract infection
Khawaldeh A, Morales S, Dillon B, Alavidze Z, Ginn AN, Thomas L, Chapman SJ, Dublanchet A, Smithyman A, Iredell JR. J Med Microbiol. 2011 Nov;60(Pt 11):1697-1700. DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.029744-0. Epub 2011 Jul 7. PMID: 21737541
Isolation and characterisation of lytic bacteriophages of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca
Karumidze N, Kusradze Ia, Rigvava S, Goderdzishvili M, Rajakumar K, Alavidze Z. Curr Microbiol. 2013 Mar;66(3):251-8. DOI: 10.1007/s00284-012-0264-7. Epub 2012 Nov 11. PMID: 23143289
What happens when the child gets bacteriophage per os?
Pagava KI, Gachechiladze KK, Korinteli IA, Dzuliashvili MG, Alavidze ZI, Hoyle N, Metskhvarishvili GD. Georgian Med News. 2011 Jul-Aug;(196-197):101-5. PMID: 21873760 Russian.
Experimental approach for bacteriophage susceptibility testing of planktonic and sessile bacterial populations – Study protocol
Negut AC, Sandulescu O, Popa M, Streinu-Cercel A, Alavidze Z, Berciu I, Bleotu C, Popa MI, Chifiriuc MC, Streinu-Cercel A. Germs. 2014 Dec 1;4(4):92-6. DOI: 10.11599/germs.2014.1062. eCollection 2014 Dec. PMID: 25505742 Free PMC article.
Examination of bacteriophage as a biocontrol method for Salmonella on fresh-cut fruit: a model study
Leverentz B, Conway WS, Alavidze Z, Janisiewicz WJ, Fuchs Y, Camp MJ, Chighladze E, Sulakvelidze A. J Food Prot. 2001 Aug;64(8):1116-21. DOI: 10.4315/0362-028x-64.8.1116. PMID: 11510645
Clinical Phage Therapy
Elizabeth Kutter, Jan Borysowski, Ryszard Miedzybrodzki, Andrzej Górski, Beata Weber-Dabrowska, Mzia Kutateladze, Zemphira Alavidze, Marina Goderdzishvili and Revaz Adamia from: Phage Therapy: Current Research and Applications (Edited by: Jan Borysowski, Ryszard Miedzybrodzki and Andrzej Górski). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2014)
Bacteriophages – Biology, Technology, Therapy