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Review
. 2020 Jun 5:11:1056.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01056. eCollection 2020.

Phage Therapy in Poland - a Centennial Journey to the First Ethically Approved Treatment Facility in Europe

Maciej Żaczek  1 , Beata Weber-Dąbrowska  1   2 , Ryszard Międzybrodzki  1   2   3 , Marzanna Łusiak-Szelachowska  1 , Andrzej Górski  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Phage Therapy in Poland - a Centennial Journey to the First Ethically Approved Treatment Facility in Europe

Maciej Żaczek et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Although phage discovery is an unquestionable merit of the English bacteriologist Frederick W. Twort and the Canadian-French microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle, who both discovered phages over 100 years ago, the Polish history of phage studies also dates back to those years. In contrast to the Western world, developing phage treatment in Poland has never been abandoned despite the country's tense history marked by the Second World War (WWII) and the communism era. Today, Poland takes a prominent and remarkable place in the phage research area. Furthermore, established in 2005, the Phage Therapy Unit at the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy in Wrocław, the first such center within European borders, has quickly become a model for other centers in the world facing the issue of widespread antibiotic resistance. This article constitutes an attempt to fill the gap in the scientific literature by providing a comprehensive summary of the long tradition of phage research in Poland.

Keywords: Hirszfeld Institute; Phage Therapy Unit; Polish history; phage discovery; phage research; phage therapy.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Prof. Ludwik Hirszfeld’s letter to the Ministry of Health dated September 10, 1946 [in Polish]; source: Hirszfeld Institute’s archive.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A letter of the director of the Medical Microbiology Institute at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Dr. Zdzisław Przybyłkiewicz to Prof. Ludwik Hirszfeld dated April 22, 1948 [in Polish]; source: Hirszfeld Institute’s archive.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
A 10-mL ampoule with Shigella sonnei phage cocktail intended for oral administration. Phage cocktail was manufactured by BIOMED in Kraków (July 10, 1972) according to the instructions developed at the Hirszfeld Institute. Source: Private archive of Maciej Żaczek.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
A congratulatory letter of the President of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Dr. Andrew J. Davison to Dr. Beata Weber-Dąbrowska dated May 28, 2019; source: private archive of Dr. B. Weber-Dąbrowska.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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