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
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
Originally aired August 12, 2024
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