Bacteriophage therapy: experience from the Eliava Institute, Georgia

The lysis of bacteria by bacteriophage was independently discovered by Frederick Twort 1 and Felix d’Herelle 2 but it was d’Herelle who proposed that bacteriophage might be applied to the control of bacterial diseases. Within the former Soviet Union (FSU), bacteriophage therapy was researched and applied extensively for the treatment of a wide range of bacterial infections. In the West, however, it was not explored with the same enthusiasm and was eventually discarded with the arrival of antibiotics. However, the increase in the incidence of multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the absence of effective means for their control has led to increasing international interest in phage therapy and in the long experience of the Eliava Institute. The Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology (IBMV), which celebrates its 85th anniversary in 2008, was founded in Tbilisi in 1923 through the joint efforts of d’Herelle and the Georgian microbiologist, George Eliava.