When Our Antibiotics Stop Working | Vitals

Most of us take antibiotics for granted, as a staple of medicine since the 1940s—but to a surprising degree, many antibiotics are no longer effective. Already, resistant “superbugs” kill 700,000 people per year, and by 2050 that figure could reach 10 million. Left unchecked, infections once curable in a few days could become untreatable.

Companies and researchers are scrambling to find new antibiotic weapons—but there is also an increasing focus on alternatives. In this episode, we’ll focus on one of the most promising avenues—the therapeutic use of bacteriophages—viruses that have evolved to target and kill bacteria. Found any place where there are bacteria, phages are more populous than every other organism on earth combined. “Phage therapy” was a focus of research in the early 20th century, but was largely set aside following the discovery of antibiotics… But the field now has a second life.

This episode features the story of Dr. Stephanie Strathdee and her husband, whose desperate battle with a debilitating superbug and later treatment with a phage matching his bacterial isolate led to renewed interest in intravenous phage therapy. After hearing the Strathdees’ story, we’ll review current clinical trials of phage therapy as well as other alternative to antibiotics, such as antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) and certain plant-based substances. As a coda, we’ll point out everyday practices viewers likely partake in, like unnecessary use of antibiotics, that are driving antibiotic resistance.