Reinventing the fight against bacteria, one phage at a time.

Penicillin and the Eclipse of Phage Therapy in Western Medicine (1928–1950) Abstract: The period between the late 1920s and the mid-20th century witnessed a fundamental transformation in antimicrobial therapeutics. Bacteriophage therapy, once a promising solution to bacterial infections, saw increasing use in European clinics during the interwar years. However, the discovery and mass production of penicillin during World War II radically shifted clinical priorities. This article examines the rise of penicillin and the scientific, clinical, and industrial dynamics that led to the displacement of phage therapy in Western medical practice by 1950. Introduction: A Divided Therapeutic Landscape In the interwar period, Western medicine faced a crisis of infectious disease without a universal remedy. While chemical antiseptics and arsenical compounds like Salvarsan were used for certain infections, many remained untreatable. Bacteriophage therapy emerged as a candidate solution, particula...

Understanding Bacteriophage Life Cycles: The Lytic and Lysogenic Pathways Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. They are the most abundant biological entities on Earth, with an estimated 10³¹ particles—more than all the stars in the universe. But despite their microscopic size, phages have a massive influence on microbial ecosystems, human health, and the future of medicine. At the core of how phages function are two distinct reproductive strategies: the lytic cycle and the lysogenic cycle . Understanding these two pathways is essential for grasping how phage therapy works, how bacterial populations are controlled in nature, and how genetic material can be transferred between microorganisms. The Lytic Cycle: Destruction for Reproduction In the lytic cycle, a phage takes over a bacterium with the sole purpose of producing as many new phage particles as possible. The process is swift and lethal to the host cell. Stages of the ly...

The Viruses That Kill Bacteria: An Introduction to Bacteriophages When people hear the word "virus," they often think of disease, danger, and global pandemics. But not all viruses are harmful to humans. In fact, some viruses exclusively target bacteria—and they may hold the key to solving one of the greatest medical challenges of our time: antibiotic resistance. These viruses are called bacteriophages. What Are Bacteriophages? Bacteriophages, or simply phages, are viruses that infect and destroy bacteria. The term comes from the Greek words "bacteria" and "phagein," meaning "to devour." True to their name, phages invade bacterial cells, hijack their machinery to reproduce, and eventually destroy them from within. Discovered over a century ago, phages are the most abundant biological entities on the planet. It is estimated that there are more than 10³¹ phages on Earth—far more than all other organisms combined. They are found wherever bacteria...

Revolutionizing Phage Therapy: High-Throughput Platforms for Personalized Bacterial Targeting Artistic View As multidrug-resistant bacterial infections continue to challenge global health systems, the urgency for precise, rapid, and adaptable therapeutic alternatives has never been greater. Among the most promising solutions is the revival of bacteriophage (phage) therapy, now significantly enhanced by innovative high-throughput screening technologies that tailor treatment to each patient's infection profile. The Problem: Precision in an Age of Resistance One of the longstanding challenges in phage therapy has been its host specificity : phages that kill one bacterial strain may have no effect on another, even within the same species. Traditional phage matching relies on slow culturing methods and empirical testing, delaying critical treatment and limiting phage therapy’s clinical viability. In an age of rapid-onset sepsis and pan-resistant infections, such limitations are una...

CRISPR-Engineered Phages in Clinical Trials: A Precision Strike Against Antibiotic-Resistant UTIs Artistic view In the face of mounting antibiotic resistance, a new generation of antimicrobial therapy is emerging—not from a chemistry lab, but from the convergence of bacteriophage biology and CRISPR gene editing . Among the pioneers in this field is Locus Biosciences , a North Carolina-based biotech company that has launched the world’s first clinical trial using CRISPR-enhanced phages to treat urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by Escherichia coli . This innovation represents a fundamental leap forward in the application of precision medicine to bacterial infections. The Clinical Challenge: E. coli and the UTI Burden Urinary tract infections affect more than 150 million people worldwide each year. In the United States alone, they account for over 8 million doctor visits annually , with E. coli responsible for up to 80–90% of all cases. While most UTIs are treatable with sta...

Phage Therapy in European Clinics: Targeting Staphylococcal and Streptococcal Infections in the 1930s Illustration of Félix d'Hérelle with patients infected and cured by phages in Europe (artist's view) During the late 1920s and early 1930s, long before antibiotics revolutionized medicine, European clinics were overwhelmed by bacterial infections that resisted conventional treatments. Among the most feared were those caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes , which plagued maternity wards, surgical theaters, and military hospitals. These pathogens, responsible for postpartum sepsis, wound infections, and hospital-acquired abscesses, often led to fatal outcomes. It was in this bleak landscape that Félix d’Hérelle’s phage therapy emerged as a compelling and controversial alternative. A Novel Approach in Clinical Medicine Félix d’Hérelle, a French-Canadian microbiologist and co-discoverer of bacteriophages, began promoting the therapeutic use of these bacteri...

Félix d’Hérelle’s Phage Therapy Trials in Tunisia: A Forgotten Milestone in Medical Experimentation Illustration of Félix d'Hérelle with patients in Tunisia (artist's impression) In the early 1920s, the arid hospital wards of French Tunisia became the site of one of the earliest large-scale clinical applications of bacteriophage therapy in human patients. Led by Félix d’Hérelle—microbiologist, iconoclast, and self-styled bacteriophage evangelist—this episode stands as a largely overlooked but pivotal moment in the history of therapeutic microbiology. At a time when the mechanisms of bacterial disease were only partially understood and antibiotics had yet to transform modern medicine, d’Hérelle’s ambition was radical: to cure deadly infections using living viruses that specifically target and destroy bacterial pathogens. His experiments in North Africa were not preliminary lab trials, but structured medical interventions on infected patients in real clinical settings. The Set...