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  • 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.

  • Theyre called bacteriophages, literallybacteria 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 theyre 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.

A secret Soviet medical program may be resurfacing and it could one day save your life.

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