[Imported diseases].

Studies of bacteriophage as therapeutic agents have had mixed and unpredictable outcomes. We argue that interpretation of these apparently paradoxical results requires appreciation of various density-dependent threshold effects. We use a mathematical model to delineate different categories of outcome, including therapy by simple inundation, by active biocontrol, and by delayed active biocontrol. Counter-intuitively, there are situations in which earlier inoculation can be less efficacious, and simultaneous inoculation with antibiotics can be detrimental. Predictions of therapeutic responses are made using formulae dependent on biologically meaningful parameters; experimental measurement of the parameters will be a prerequisite of application of the model to particular study systems. Such modelling can point to which aspects of phage biology might most fruitfully be engineered so as to enhance the viability of bacteriophage therapy.

Bacterial Infections↗

PubMed2001

[Etiopathogenesis of prostatitis]].

The first step in adopting a practical approach to the management of patients with prostatitis lies in the realization that the etiology of the symptoms often remains unclear and the traditional etiologically based classification system is part of the problem and not the solution. This problem was recognized in 1995 by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on prostatitis. It was suggested that the classification of this disease be changed. The traditional categories "chronic nonbacterial prostatitis" and "prostatodynia" were replaced by the new category "chronic pelvic pain syndrome." The introduction of the term "syndrome" reflects two issues: despite lack of evidence for bacterial involvement based on conventional methods, nonbacterial prostatitis may indeed still be an infectious disease, and the etiology of the symptoms may be caused by a disorder not related to the prostate gland alone.

Bacterial Infections↗