The idea that viruses could be used as medicine certainly seems farfetched. Hasn't modern medicine been working to fight against viral infections? Aren't we working towards eradication of every last virus in existence?
Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem for many reasons including increased prescription of antibiotics, the fact that people do not always finish their full course of antibiotics, and an increasing proportion of people that are immunocompromised. Currently, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths around the globe each year. However, at current rates, it seems likely that this number will increase to 10 million deaths per year as a result of anabiotic-resistant bacterial infection, by the year 2050. 10 million. It is abundantly clear that something must be done to prevent this.
Heather Hendrickson from Massey University in New Zealand has been researching a potentially groundbreaking method of using bacteriophage viruses to combat bacterial infections, much like the way antibiotics are currently used. Hendrickson and her research team are investigating bacteriophages found in soil and their therapeutic potential. Bacteriophages can be very specific which is useful in targeting a single type of bacteria rather than wiping out a person's entire microbiome. Considering the current trajectory with regards to antibiotic resistance, it is important that we begin to look into alternative methods for fighting bacterial infections. And viruses might be just that.
~Emma
Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161115-the-viruses-that-may-save-humanity
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