# On phages **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 10, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-phages/810312 "2018-03-10T02:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-phages/810312/1 "2018-03-10T02:02:06Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-phages/810312/2 "2018-03-10T13:53:02Z")
Here’s the link: [Will bacteriophages save us from the antibiotics crisis? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/9479/will-bacteriophages-save-us-from-the-antibiotics-crisis/) Links are posted so rarely I wonder if people have trouble linking them. Mobile phone issues? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-phages/810312/3 "2018-03-10T18:43:10Z")
Ah, pure laziness on my part. Apologies. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-phages/810312/4 "2018-03-20T17:36:35Z")
One instance where phages were used: > **[Virus fished from pond cures man’s deadly antibiotic-resistant infection](https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/attack-of-the-pond-virus-it-outwits-drug-resistant-bacteria-saved-mans-life/)** > > The clinical success suggests promising strategy for fighting antibiotic resistance. > [@](#): > > But, if phages can kill bacteria and make survivors evolve to be vulnerable to drugs, then a one-two punch of phage and drugs could knock out any infection, resistant or not Brian