Letter: Winning the war against antibiotic resistance (3)

From Larry Stoter, The Narth, Monmouthshire, UK

Before the antibiotic crisis, the Soviet Union put a lot of effort into using phage viruses that attack bacteria to treat diseases. Though under-reported in the West, this has continued, especially in Georgia, where the George Eliava Institute is a key centre.

The editor writes:

• This old idea is coming back. In 2015, Steffanie Strathdee at the University of California, San Diego, used a phage to cure her husband of a life-threatening infection. Now she co-heads a new institute and start-up firms that have treated another five people. In June 2018, they got $1.2 million to develop the therapy.