Not Just a Phage

We’re hurtling towards a post-antibiotic world, as the overuse of antibiotics has given rise to dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. Can we fight back using viruses as weapons? An obscure medical therapy uses certain viruses called bacteriophages to treat infection. For a century attempts to turn phage-therapy into a life-saving treatment have faltered, but today there’s renewed interest in this approach. Can we use phages to forestall the antibiotic crisis? 

Guests:

Claas Kirchhelle – Medical historian at the University College, Dublin

Tom Ireland – Journalist, editor of The Biologist and author of “The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage”

Steffanie Strathdee – Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences at the University of California San Diego

Tom Patterson – Professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego

Descripción en español

Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake

Originally aired August 12, 2024

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