A secret Soviet medical program may be resurfacing and it could one day save your life.
It’s all about fighting disease...with viruses.
When we think of viruses, like the cold or the flu, we tend to think of one thing: getting
sick.
But it turns out there are actually viruses that can keep us from getting sick.
They’re called bacteriophages, literally “bacteria eaters.”
But first, what’s a virus anyway?
Well, a virus is a microorganism that requires a host to survive, like a human cell.
When it finds one, the virus attaches itself and starts to replicate until the cell is
destroyed.
This process then repeats until your immune system kicks in and the virus is killed off.
Bacteriophages work the same way, but instead of infecting human cells, they only infect
bacteria.
And they’re very selective.
A bacteriophage that can infect and destroy E. Coli won’t go after another type of bacteria.
So, scientists thought bacteriophages could be used the same way we now use antibiotics,
to treat deadly bacterial infections.
In fact, bacteriophages were discovered a decade before penicillin was accidentally
stumbled upon in dirty petri dish.
So, why aren’t we using them?
Well, in the West bacteriophages suffered from some bad press from the American Medical
Association, and by the 1940’s antibiotics were full-steam-ahead, treating soldiers in
WWII.
But while Western medicine lost interest in bacteriophages, the former Soviet Union as
well as Eastern Bloc countries couldn’t get enough of them.
The Soviet military used bacteriophages extensively, and Georgia was pumping out 2 tons of phages
a week for military and civilian use.
The thing is, we never heard about it because of the secrecy behind the iron curtain.
Phage therapy was funded by the Soviet Military, making it classified information.
And when we finally did get access to the research, it lacked the rigorous protocols
found in Western medical journals, like double-blind studies.
But interest in bacteriophages is back, and clinical trials have begun.
That’s because antibiotics, while responsible for saving millions of lives, have hit a scary
bump in the road.
Bacteria can evolve and become resistant to antibiotics, and now the World Health Organization
has warned that humanity is at risk of a post-antibiotic era.
That would mean common infections could once again be potentially deadly.
This is why phage therapy is becoming relevant again.
In one case, a patient with an infection in his leg that wouldn’t respond to antibiotics
avoided amputation with a successful treatment of bacteriophages.
So don’t be surprised when down the line, your doctor prescribes you a virus to get
you back on your feet.