Today’s column discussed bacteriophages, generally called phages, for the purpose of fighting bacteria. One problem with them is that bacteria can evolve to avoid them and rather quickly. More than 60 years ago, I helped with the following experiment involving the so-called T-phages which infect E. coli. We took a liter flask and filled it with growth medium. After inoculating with a single strain of the coli (it was a single strain because we grew it on a petri dish and took a piece of a single colony that had grown there), we let it grow for a day and the flask clouded up. We then added some phage to the flask and the next day the flask had cleared and the dead bacteria formed a mat at the bottom. But then some of the bacteria mutated to be resistant and the flask clouded by the next day. But some of the phage must have mutated and the flask cleared again. We did not continue the experiment because the nutrient would run out and the waste products would accumulate so we ended it.
Here’s the link: Will bacteriophages save us from the antibiotics crisis? - The Straight Dope
Links are posted so rarely I wonder if people have trouble linking them. Mobile phone issues?
Ah, pure laziness on my part. Apologies.
One instance where phages were used:
Brian