Would you drink a vial of virus? That could be your best bet against antimicrobial resistance
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Synopsis
Phages — microscopic viruses that infect bacteria — were discovered over a 100 years ago, and a small band of scientists quickly realised their potential. However, within a few decades of discovery, they were largely abandoned in favour of antibiotics. But as antibiotics increasingly fail us, and the threat of antimicrobial resistance looms large, interest in phage therapy is on the rise.
By Jessica Hamzelou Regular readers will know that the microbiome is one of my favorite topics to cover. The billions of bacteria crawling all over our bodies play a vital role in our health, influencing everything from digestion to immune health and even our moods. But there’s something else that makes a home inside us. Bacteriophages—or phages for short—are microscopic viruses even smaller than our gut microbes. These viruses infect bacteria
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7 mins read, Last Updated:
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