A woman developed a bacterial infection after heart surgery that resisted traditional antibiotics and endangered her life. Doctors used a virus found in the Singapore River as part of an experimental treatment that ultimately saved her.
The patient, a woman in her 30s with a congenital cardiac arterial malformation, underwent her fifth open-chest surgery at Singapore General Hospital in January last year, shortly after giving birth to her second child.
Following the surgery, she developed a severe post-operative infection. Bacteria repeatedly appeared in her chest cavity and blood that couldn’t be eliminated by conventional antibiotics. The infection put her at risk of sepsis, creating a life-threatening situation.
The woman faced two difficult options: undergo another open-chest surgery with high risk of major bleeding and death, or depend on long-term antibiotic infusions that would require frequent hospital visits and reduce her quality of life significantly.
Dr. Jasmine Chung Shimin, Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Singapore General Hospital, and Associate Professor Andrea Kwa Lay Hoon, Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Innovation in Pharmaceuticals, turned to phage therapy as a solution.
Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically target bacteria as hosts and destroy them. These viruses exist naturally in environments like rivers and soil, but each virus targets only specific bacteria. Collection and processing require professional laboratory equipment.
Singapore General Hospital established a bacteriophage research laboratory in 2021 and has collected several hundred different bacteriophage samples. It’s reportedly the only hospital in Singapore with such facilities.
The medical team searched their bacteriophage inventory and found three effective against the bacteria in the patient’s body. One of these came from water in the Singapore River.
After approximately five months of searching and cultivation, plus obtaining approval from authorities, the patient received a two-week intravenous bacteriophage treatment in September last year.
The therapy showed results after about two months, with the bacterial infection brought under control. Last December, she successfully transitioned from intravenous to oral antibiotics and is currently recovering well.
