The Promise of viral phage therapy in hernia mesh infection, is this the biological ‘silver bullet’ of the future?

There are approximately 1 million mesh hernioplasty procedures performed in the USA per year and approximately 100 000 in Australia. The use of mesh has revolutionized hernia surgery, a Cochrane review has revealed that its use has reduced the recurrence rate by half. Mesh infection is a serious complication of hernia surgery. Its incidence is low in routine elective mesh hernioplasty, but may increase significantly in high‐risk situations such as surgical site infection, or surgical site occurrence, the term embracing complications including haematoma, wound breakdown, seroma and skin necrosis. Other risk factors for mesh infection include prior mesh infections, obesity (CDC class >1), smoking, diabetes, emergency surgery, mesh location and size, large (>10 cm) defects are particularly prone to infections.