History of bacteriophage therapy studies.
| Year | Country | Pathogen | Disease | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919 | France | Shigella | Bacterial dysentery | Treatment of children suffering from severe dysentery using previously isolated phages. |
| 1921 | France | Staphylococcus | Carbunculosis and furunculosis | The injection of phages near the base of the carbuncles and furuncles in 6 patients led to a reduction in swelling, pain, and fever. |
| 1927 | India | V. cholerae | Cholera | This study was the first to use intravenous administration of bacteriophages by Asheshov in India. |
| 1929 | USA | Staphylococcus | Chronic furunculosis | Subcutaneous treatment of 208 patients showed 78% with no recurrent infections. |
| 1929 | USA | Staphylococcus | Septicemia | Remarkable success. |
| 1931 | Egypt | Yersinia pestis | Bubonic plague | In 1927, d’Herelle treated 4 cases of bubonic plague successfully by injecting bacteriophages into the buboes. |
| 1932 | USA | S. aureus | Meningitis | Remarkable success. |
| 1936 | USA | Staphylococcus | Staphylococcal bacteraemia | Relatively successful treatment in 100 of patients. |
| 1936 | France | Staphylococcus | Surgical infections | Cure of abscesses using polyvalent phages. |
| 1936 | Georgia | Salmonella typhi | Typhoid fever | Treatment of 21 patients resulted in a drop of 10.8% in mortality and 43.2% in complications. |
| 1936 | Georgia | Salmonella and Shigella | Acute colitis | All 43 patients with colitis were cured after treatment using “bacti-intesti-phage”. |
| 1936 | Georgia | S. typhi | Peritonitis caused by intestinal perforations in typhoid fever | Mortality was reduced from 85% to 20–35%. |
| 1942 | USA | Staphylococcus | Staphylococcal bacteraemia | Very positive results in the treatment of 500 patients. |
| 1946 | USA | Salmonella | Typhoid fever | The results were inconclusive; however, the positive results were astounding and encouraged them to continue the research. |
| 1949 | Canada | Salmonella | Typhoid fever | Several phage cocktails were used to treat 100 patients. The most successful one reduced the mortality rate from 20% to 2%. |
| 1968 | Russia | Salmonella and Shigella | Acute colitis | All 43 patients with colitis were cured after treatment using “bacti-intesti-phage”. |
| 1974 | Russia | Proteus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus | Peritonitis, osteomyelitis, lung abscesses, and postsurgical wound infections | Subcutaneous or through surgical wounds administration of phages in 236 patients resistant to antibiotics with a success rate of 92%. |
| 1976 | Russia | Abscessing pneumonia | A complex treatment was given to the patients, including intensive antibacterial therapy, immunotherapy, bacteriophage, protein preparations, vitamin therapy, and fresh blood transfusion. | |
| 1978 | Russia | E. coli and Proteus | Antibiotic-associated intestinal dysbiosis | A combination of phages and Bifidobacteria was used to restore the intestinal microbiota in 500 infants. |
| 1978 | Russia | E. coli, Proteus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus | Suppurative surgical infections | A comparison between commercial phage preparations and phages selected against bacterial strains isolated from patients was done. The selected phages were more effective in treating 60 patients. |
| 1979 | France | Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Proteus, Providencia, and S. aureus | Chronic orthopaedic infections | Seven cases of chronic orthopaedic infections were successfully treated with phages. |
| 1980 | Russia | E. coli, Proteus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus | Lung and pleural infections | Treatment of 45 patients using the combination of phages and antibiotics. |
| 1981 | Russia | E. coli and Proteus | Bacterial dysentery | A combination of phages and bifidobacteria was used to treat 59 immunosuppressed leukaemia patients. The treatment was reported to be more effective than antibiotics. |
| 1981–1986 | Poland | E. coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Shigella, and Staphylococcus | Gastrointestinal tract, skin, head, and neck infections | Phages were administered to over 1,000 patients in a series of studies. The success rates varied between 91% and 96%. |
| 1982 | Russia | Staphylococcus | Lung and pleural infections | Full recovery was reported in 82% of the patients treated with phages as opposed to 64% of patients treated with antibiotics. |
| 1984 | Russia | Shigella | Bacterial dysentery | The double-blinded study showed a 10-fold lower incidence of dysentery in those treated with phages. |
| 1984 | Russia | P. aeruginosa and S. aureus | - | A prophylactic mouthwash was administered to patients with acute leukemia. |
| 1986 | Poland | E. coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus | Bacterial monoinfections and polyinfections | The immunogenic effects of therapeutic phages were evaluated in 57 patients, showing an insignificant impact. |
| 1986 | Poland | Staphylococcus and several Gram-negative bacteria | Suppurative infections | During therapy, phages seemed to infiltrate the blood circulation and urinary tract. |
| 1987 | Poland | E. coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus | Suppurative skin infections | A success rate of 74% in 31 patients with chronically infected skin ulcers was observed upon phage administration. |
| 1988 | Russia | Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus | Post-surgical infections | Therapeutic phages were administered to 65 of 131 cancer patients, while the others received antibiotics. Phage therapy was successful in 82% of the patients in comparison to 61% success using antibiotics. |
| 1991 | Russia | Enterococcus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, Proteus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus | Infectious allergosis | A total of 1,380 patients with infectious allergosis were treated using 3 different regimens: antibiotics, phages, and a mixture of both. The rates of success were 48%, 86%, and 83%, respectively. |
| 1992 | Russia | Klebsiella ozaenae, K. pneumoniae, and K. Rhinoscleromatis | Purulent inflammatory diseases | The administration of Klebsiella bacteriophages was successful in treating 109 patients with Klebsiella infections. |
| 1993 | Russia | Salmonella and Shigella | Bacterial dysentery and salmonellosis | A total of 1,646 children were successfully treated with phages and a combination of antibiotics and phages, where antibiotics alone were ineffective. |
| 1994 | Poland | E. coli | Recurrent subphrenic abscess | A case of recurrent subphrenic abscess caused by an antibiotic-resistant strain of E. coli was successfully treated with phages. |
| 1995 | Russia | E. coli, Proteus, and Staphylococcus | Inflammatory urogenital diseases | Adapted phages were used to treat 46 patients. The treatment was successful in 92% of the patients, while 84% showed bacterial clearance. |
| 1999 | Poland | K. pneumoniae | Cerebrospinal meningitis | Oral administration of a phage preparation successfully cleared bacteria from cerebrospinal fluid in a newborn. |
| 2001 | Russia | Proteus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus | Burn wounds | Pyophage treatment in patients with burn wounds reduced septic complications, had a 2-fold reduction of Staphylococci and Streptococci, a 1.5-fold reduction of Proteus, and a full reduction of E. coli. |
| 2002 | Republic of Georgia | E. coli, Proteus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus | Ulcers and wounds | PhageBioDerm was administered and showed a 70% rate of success. |
| 2009 | UK | P. aeruginosa | Chronic otitis | Bacteriophage significantly reduced the numbers of P. aeruginosa in the phage-treated group in chronic otitis externa patients. |
| 2015 | France | S. aureus | Eye corneal abscess and interstitial keratitis | Bacteriophage eye drops with successful results after 6 months. |
| 2017 | Netherlands | S. aureus | Dermatoses | Successful treatment of chronic S. aureus with endolysin Staphefekt phage. |
| 2017 | Republic of Georgia | Staphylococci | Netherton syndrome | Successful treatment of manifestations of Netherton syndrome. |
| 2017 | Belgium | P. aeruginosa | P. aeruginosa septicaemia and acute kidney injury | Treatment of colistin-only-sensitive P. aeruginosa septicaemia. |
The Table is adapted with the permission of [36]. Copyright remains with the author(s) or their institution(s).