The new age of antibiotics – the bacteriophage

By Paarth Aggarwal

A bacteriophage, also known as a phage, is a virus that is not quite alive and not quite dead, but infects and replicates inside bacteria. The head contains the DNA of the virus and often sits on a long pole with fibre legs. There are more phages on Earth than any other organism in the world, including bacteria! They probably exist everywhere living things exist. Billions are on your hands, face, eyelids and so on.

How do phages reproduce?

Like any other organism, a phage needs a host to survive. Usually, a phage chooses a specific

bacteria to kill or any of its close relatives. When a phage finds its victim, it connects its tail feathers and uses a kind of syringe to puncture the surface. In a weird motion, it squeezes its tail in, injects its genetic information and within minutes, the bacteria is taken over. It is now told to produce phages and it doesn’t stop until the bacteria is full. In the final stage, it produces a powerful enzyme that punches a hole in the bacteria. It vomits out all the phages and dies, starting the cycle all over again.

How could phages replace antibiotics?

During the middle ages, a small cut or a slip in a dirty puddle could make you end up dead. Bacteria were our phages, tiny monsters who hunted us mercilessly, but around 100 years ago, we accidentally came across a substance found in fungi (which is found in nature) and produced a substance that killed bacteria, called antibiotics. Suddenly, we had a powerful superweapon that was so effective that we stopped thinking of bacteria as monsters.

Moving forward, we started using antibiotics even for less severe conditions, which allowed the bacteria to evolve and become resistant to antibiotics. This continued until bacteria evolved into what we call superbugs (bacteria immune to literally everything we have) with no impact from antibiotics. This immunity is spreading across the world as we speak and it is estimated that superbugs could kill more people than cancer by 2050.

Phages are very harmful to the bacteria; even if bacteria learned to evolve, phages would evolve too and if bacteria become resistant to phages they will have to give up their resistance to antibiotics. Phages could act like antibiotics for humans and cure mankind. This was successfully tested when a patient had no hope of living as a virus, which was one of the most feared, had infected his stomach. With no hope left, doctors had no choice but to plunge a few thousand phages into him and within a few weeks, the virus had suddenly disappeared. Unfortunately, this is still experimental and so, pharmacies are naturally reluctant to invest the billions into something with no approval from the government. 

Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3tsmFsrOg