Viruses Vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis?

Every year thousands of people are killed by bacteria that have grown resistant to antibiotics. New alternatives are urgently needed. A surprising ray of hope is actually a blast from the past. Viruses that kill bacteria, but not us, called 'phages' for short were discovered around 1915, when infections were still a major cause of illness and death. Phage therapy became popular from the 1920s until the introduction of penicillin 20 years later. Only in the countries of the Eastern block did the therapy survive and thrive. Now western researchers and companies are working on a comeback for phage therapy. This book tells the fascinating story of the discoverers of phages in the west and the Soviet Union. Award-winning science journalist Thomas Hausler follows the trail of one pioneer killed by Stalin's secret service, and his successors in today's war-torn Georgia, accompanies patients taking phages because standard drugs fail them and investigates how these long-forgotten cures may help sick people today.

Table of Contents:
Preface Foreword At the Limits of Medicine Invincible Microbes The Pioneer Era The Renaissance A Parallel Universe Keepers of the Grail in Peril Resurrection What's the Future? Appendix Notes and References Index

About the Author :
THOMAS HA USLER is Chief Science Editor of the Swiss news magazine, Facts. He has won several awards for his journalistic work, including one for an article about phage therapy in the world-renowned German weekly Die Zeit.

Review :
'An exceptionally thorough book, extraordinarily well written and scientifically authoritative, a book about an explosive subject, that could not have been done better.' - Spektrum der Wissenschaften, the German Scientific American 'Thomas Hausler paints a vivid and engaging picture of the larger-than-life characters who committed themselves to the development of phage therapy. The science is there - in easily understandable language - but so are Stalin's purges and the Second World War. Horror stories about pus-discharging wounds bring the reader down to earth regularly as well. Bacteriophage therapy has not yet taken off - but promise is there. This authoritative book explains why.' - Professor T. Hugh Pennington, President of the British Society for General Microbiology 'This book is scientific journalism at its best...His thoughtful interviews and strong, ongoing scholarship bring to life the work of Felix d'Herelle and his scientific descendents in tantalizing and accessible fashion and give strong reason to believe that phages can, indeed, be a powerful aid in dealing with the pressing antibiotic crisis.' - Professor Elizabeth Kutter, Evergreen State College, Olympia, USA 'The reader will put down this page-turner inspired, hopeful, and utterly convinced of phage therapy's imminence and inevitability. An indispensable primer for everyone concerned with the onset of the post-antibiotic age.' - Asher Wilf, CEO, Phage-Biotech 'This book is scientific journalism at its best. Hausler shares with us the fascinating fruits of a remarkable year-long odyssey in time and space, during which he explored the depths of archives old and new from the Pasteur Institute to NIH to Los Angeles hospitals to Tbilisi to German companies, digging out long-lost records of far more work (and success) with phage therapy than anyone knew existed. His thoughtful interviews and strong, ongoing scholarship bring to life the work of Felix d'Herelle and his scientific descendents in tantalizing and accessible fashion and give strong reason to believe that phages can, indeed, be a powerful aid in dealing with the pressing antibiotic crisis.' - Professor Elizabeth Kutter, Evergreen State College, Olympia, USA 'Thomas Hausler paints a vivid and engaging picture of the larger-than-life characters who committed themselves to the development of phage therapy. The science is there - in easily understandable language - but so are Stalin's purges and the Second World War. Horror stories about pus-discharging wounds bring the reader down to earth regularly as well. Bacteriophage therapy has not yet taken off - but promise is there. This authoritative book explains why.' - Professor T. Hugh Pennington, president of the British Society for General Microbiology 'This book, documented with rare photographs and abundant references, is scientific journalism at its best and a fascinating contribution to the history of medicine. Phages are now produced by a number of companies and appear, provided that they are used by responsible and knowledgeable practitioners, to be a promising alternative to antibiotics.' - Professor Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann, Laval University, Canada 'The reader will put down this page-turner inspired, hopeful, and utterly convinced of phage therapy's imminence and inevitability. An indispensable primer for everyone concerned with the onset of the post-antibiotic age.' - Asher Wilf, CEO, Phage-Biotech 'An exceptionally thorough book, extraordinarily well written and scientifically authoritative. A book about an explosive subject, that could not have been done better.' - Spektrum der Wissenschaften, the German Scientific American 'Thomas Hausler's gripping book traces the story of the rise, the fall and the possible renaissance of bacteriophages as drugs.' - Basler Zeitung 'The Swiss science journalist Thomas Hausler has written an extremely compelling popular science book.' - Laborjournal 'Hausler tells a forgotten chapter of the history of medicine that ends in the present with a surprising comeback. Riveting.' - Schweizerische A rztezeitung 'Unusually well-researched, outstandingly well-written. This book deserves to be on the shelf of every private and public library.' - Epoch Times 'FOUR STARS: A good book - excellent use of the stories of real people involved in the fight against bacteria.' - www.popularscience.co.uk 'A salient and thought provoking take on society's attitudes toward disease and medicine.' - www.scienceagogo.com 'All the ingredients of a John Le Carre spy novel: fascinating.' - EMBO Reports 'A thoroughly scholarly account, in a highly entertaining narrative form. A compelling read, populated with fascinating characters.' - Micro Today 'A page turner, full of human drama and the race for discovery.' - Idaho Statesman 'Valuable reading, both for specialists and for interested general readers.' - JAMA