“ PHAGE THERAPY HAS REALLY BEEN A MIRACLE FOR ME , AND I ’ M EXCITED FOR WHAT IT MIGHT MEAN TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO MAY BE CURED FROM MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS IN THE FUTURE .”
— TOM PATTERSON
treat localized infections . But Patterson ’ s months after he first fell ill , Patterson is entire body has been colonized by A . discharged from the hospital and goes baumannii , so phages must be introduced through catheters directly into his rehab , both physical and mental . Pat-
home . There will be more months of abdominal cavity and infused intravenously throughout his body . “ That makes he could hear and recognize voices and
terson says even when he was comatose ,
them more effective ,” says Schooley . “ The realize that beyond the darkness , there action is at the interface of the patient was life and hope . But recovery is long and the organism .” and arduous . There are moments when
No one can predict what will happen . he says it feels like his brain is coming Phage therapy is unproven and experimental . It could kill rather than cure . string of firecrackers .
alive one neuron at a time , firing like a
Schooley says the UC San Diego Health medical team is learning on the fly ,
In the backyard of their Carlsbad home , adjusting treatment based upon Patterson ’ s response , which ultimately proves ternoon sun , Patterson and Strathdee
swathed in the golden glow of an af-
remarkable . Within three days of the ponder their good fortune . His fate could start of IV therapy , Patterson emerges have been different , but he is married to from his coma . Within a week , he no a trained scientist who was determined longer needs life support . to find a remedy — and they both work at
Subsequent treatment , however , UC San Diego School of Medicine . will not be easy . The learning curve is
“ Tom was fortunate to be in a place steep and unmarked . Inside Patterson , that had all of the resources and courage bacteria and phages do their Darwinian necessary to support him while this dance . The bacteria develop resistance , innovative therapy was developed ,” says but Navy scientists create a new phage Schooley . “ I think a lot of other places cocktail in a remarkable three days . It ’ s a would have hesitated . It speaks to the long dance . There are good days and bad . strength of a multidimensional medical There are setbacks , including recurrent center and critical components like the bouts of life-threatening sepsis . Patterson will lose more than 100 pounds interventional radiology and others .”
ICU physicians and nurses , pharmacy ,
during his hospitalization and require Schooley believes Tom ’ s case can help intense rehabilitation . advance interest and development of
But dark thoughts of Tom dying pass phage therapy . Indeed , the U . S . Navy is away . One month after therapy began , collaborating with Schooley and UC San his immune system is strong enough to Diego to create a Phage Therapy Center . fight the superbug on its own and phage Patterson is philosophical . “ In a sense , treatment is discontinued . By June , the our lives collided with the evolution of bug is gone from his body . phage therapy ,” he says . “ What the field In mid-August 2016 , more than nine needed was someone who was dying ,
a wife like Steff who was willing to try it as a desperate measure , a network of researchers who were willing to undertake a phage hunt , a university hospital system willing to make it happen and a dedicated doctor who put his reputation on the line to try something completely out of the box . We got all this — and in record time .”
Like Patterson ’ s case , phage research will likely be bumpy and unpredictable . Phages seem safe , but before they can be used as a standard of care , daunting regulatory and technical hurdles loom . “ The FDA is used to saying , ‘ This is an antibiotic . We know what the structure is and you ’ re giving this antibiotic to multiple people ,’” says Schooley . “ With bacteriophage therapy , we are dealing with an approach that requires a specific cocktail for each patient . It is the ultimate personalized medicine .”
In other words , every treatment will be a clinical trial of one . Each patient will represent success or failure . Not surprisingly , Patterson leans toward the former . He believes his experience can be translated into new treatments for others , perhaps many others . In fact , there have been subsequent phage treatments in the U . S . based on the lessons learned in Patterson ’ s case .
“ Phage therapy has really been a miracle for me , and I ’ m excited for what it might mean to millions of people who may be cured from multidrug-resistant infections in the future ,” Patterson says . “ Call it bizarre , but I feel somewhat privileged to have experienced all of this and still be alive and hopefully make a change . To think that someone else could benefit from my experience — that it might generate interest , and perhaps create a whole new wave of treatment for something that ’ s a growing problem .”
“ To have taken something so traumatic and turned it into something good ,” says Strathdee , “ it gives you a sense of power and fierceness . Like , we can do anything now . Bring it on .”
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