The problem of antibiotic resistance is increasing. Superbugs like MRSA (methicillin-resistant staph aureus) are becoming harder and harder to treat as they evolve resistance to the most powerful antibiotics used against them.
Back before the development of antibiotics, scientists were working on a different way to fight bacterial infections. They enlisted viruses that attack only those particular bacteria. Should we go back to this old bacteriophage technology for the future of fighting infection?
Guests: David Weber, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Schools of Medicine and Public Health. He’s also associate chief of staff and medical director of infection control at UNC Health Care.
Elizabeth Kutter, PhD, Professor of Biophysics at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She heads the Laboratory of Phage Biology there.
Randall Wolcott, MD, CWS, director of the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center in Lubbock, Texas; director of the Medical Biofilm Research Institute in Lubbock, Texas.
Click here to download our podcast.
The People's Perspective on Medicine