phages

And they may well not suffer the same problems of resistance since phages are targeted to specific bacteria.

Salmonella, to my knowledges phages don't work but please share as you say you have experience with this).

Additionally, don't forget that phages are not all lytic and not all are effective (i.e.

Now, sadly, most cells and bacteria come with different phages/viruses that allow cell entry.

Several phages even encode for bacterial virulence factors such as exotoxins (stx, diphteria toxin).

But phages were still being looked at for most of the antibiotic period, especially in countries without quite such widespread access to antibiotics.

It's a promising avenue, and there's some decisive advantages phages have over antibiotics.

Georgia has been the center of phage research since the 20s and has a massive bank of phages for all sorts of infections.

So while phages can be useful (I never said they weren't) their use is limited and has it's own drawbacks.

The biggest problem with phages is they can be quite specific.

I've read phages are very specialized and tied to their target type of cell.

Could phages be engineered to attack mrsa and other superbugs we see in hospitals?

From Wikipedia's Bacteriophage page: "Medical trials were carried out, but a basic lack of understanding of phages made these invalid".

You don't take phages back out of the person, so the source is not under evolutionary pressure to affect humans -- each batch is "seeing" humans for the first time.

It also reminds me of Russian "phages" bacterial concoctions as cures for certain illnesses.

Involves keeping "banks" of phages around, and creating custom cocktails of them.

Phages look real promising in this respect but a few problems: - How do you get a sample to target?

Phages were the subject of one or two novels by Greg Bear.

Phages have been, and are, being revisited and reconsidered.