Dr Ben Chang Treating Anti-biotic Resistance in Africa
December 16, 2018
One of our workshop instructors, Dr. Ben Chan of Yale University, has been using phages to treat antibiotic-resistant infections in patients in the US. In fact, this past week he treated two more people with phages! For each of the six patients he has treated thus far, the FDA has given emergency approval — since those people had no other treatment options after antibiotics failed.
In a recent case, cystic fibrosis patient Paige Rogers inhaled phages to combat an antibiotic-resistant infection in her lungs that had debilitated her for years. Her turnaround was dramatic, and she credits phages with enabling her to live a more normal life now. Her turnaround was dramatic, and she credits phages with enabling her to live a more normal life now. You can watch Paige and Ben tell the story here.
Ben receiving a thank-you gift from the hosts of the 2018 east Africa workshop in Kenya
Through our phage workshops, Ben is now teaching scientists in Africa how to isolate and apply phages there. This is important because at least 10 times as many people will die from antibiotic-resistant infections in Africa as compared with North America. Please help us deliver more training workshops in developing countries! We rely on individual contributions to partially support these workshops, and all donations are tax-deductible.
With Thanksgiving,
Tobi Nagel, PhD - President
James B. Lin - Secretary
Karen Erickson - Treasurer