The Alternative to Antibiotics That Might Just Save Us All, The Bacteriophage

While many of our antibiotics are becoming less useful due to multi antibiotic resistance of bacteria through direct inheritance of antibiotic resistant genes or horizontal gene transfer (something almost completely unique to single cellular life), there is an old and simple alternative that evolves along with bacteria to prevent resistance.

It's called a bacteriophage.

A bacteriophage is a virus which attacks bacteria that was developed to some degree by the Soviet Union as an alternative to potentially costly or unavailable antibiotics.

The use of this alternative and sophisticated treatment is called Phage Therapy or Viral Phage Therapy.

These viruses for bacteria can be tailored to specific bacterial pheno/genotypes in order to not harm beneficial bacteria (the microbiota) that reside within the digestive system and elsewhere in the body. This is especially important since we are now discovering that many "species" of bacteria serve important roles in maintaining homeostasis and even brain development.

The downside to this treatment is that, unlike broad spectrum antibiotics, it requires a doctor to identify a specific strain of pathogenic bacteria through culturing or through gene sequencing which can take between days and several hours by a lab technician.

The lesson we all need to learn from our current situation where some medicines are beginning to fail us is that medical and biological research needs to be prioritized if we want to remain healthy.

Notes:
Bacteriophage image by "Adenosine".

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