As the globe faces a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria – making traditional antibiotics ineffective – specific viruses could offer a solution.
Viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, target bacteria but can’t infect humans or other higher organisms. Phages inject their DNA into the bacterial cell, multiply to large numbers using the resources of the host, and then burst out to infect more bacteria in the vicinity.
Essentially, they are a naturally occurring, self-replicating and specific antibiotic. Discovered more than 100 years ago, their use against bacteria was largely sidelined in favour of antibiotics.
