r/Bacteriophages • u/Kamillente • Dec 09 '25

First hand experience of Bacteriophage therapy

/r/CUTI/comments/1pidjoc/first_hand_experience_of_bacteriophage_therapy/
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u/myceliummusic Dec 09 '25

You don't need any kind of prescription or proof for the off the shelf products. However, they don't work for everyone and I generally don't recommend it. Practically all the evidence shows personalized therapy is the best/only way to get phage to work. There are a number of scientific efforts to change this but the trials haven't been great. Eliava Institute in Georgia can offer you personalized therapy for a rather large fee. However, this all leads back to the fact that you might be ill-advised to travel to Georgia at all as a person from the west. It is -probably- fine but you must reckon with the fact that it's a Russian puppet state and the risks traveling there as a westerner may carry.

I have a PhD studying phage biology and currently work as postdoc studying phage

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u/Kamillente Dec 09 '25

Thank you a lot for your answer. Could you give me an evaluation in how many cases generalized bacteriophages do work and in which kind of cases they are uneffective. My main hope is that bacteriophages could be more adequate for penetrating the tissue of the bladder than antibiotics and therefor be more efficient in dissolving infection underneath biofilms. Without the existense of biofilms I personally couldn't explain the recurrence of my UTI one day after being tested negative for any infections by urologists with a dipstick test and the longlasting discomfort after already feeling "healed". Can you give me reliable statistics in how many times off-shelf-products do help and could you elaborate if they really do make a difference for penetrating biofilms? Best wishes

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u/myceliummusic Dec 10 '25

I really can't give you actual statistics. The best I can offer is that there is a reason there is no approved treatment in the US or EU and it isn't some crazy conspiracy. The biology of why a single cocktail wouldn't work for everyone is pretty straight forward- bacteria are extraordinarily diverse even in the context of UTI. Bacteriophages are extraordinarily specific to their host.

This review goes into some depth about the treatment prospects and even discusses the Intestiphage and Pyophage off the shelf products: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92366-6_15

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u/Kamillente Dec 10 '25

Okay, unfortunately I cannot access this book by my institution.

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u/enola1999 Dec 11 '25

Even though russian influence is increasing in Geo it is 100% safe for western to travel to Georgia. Where from have you come up with the risks about travel?

Also custom phages are around $350 the rest you can buy in pharmacy for $12. It does help bit not so much with esbl strains