The patient was a healthy 30-year-old woman who had survived a nightmarish terrorist attack. Shrapnel in her leg left her vulnerable to infection with one of the world’s most drug-resistant bacteria, rendering antibiotics useless. Even after emergency surgery to save her leg, a partial hip amputation, and bone grafts, the infection stubbornly returned.

Finally, a team in Belgium stepped in with an experimental treatment: phage therapy. Phages, the most abundant organism on Earth, are bacteria-killing viruses. Harmless to humans, they can be found virtually everywhere – on your skin, in your throat, in lakes and ponds, rivers, soil. What makes them so potent is their four billion-year history engaged in an eternal war with bacteria: Every phage has evolved a laser-like ability to vanquish specific bacterial strains. The trick is finding and matching up the right phage – or cocktail of phages – to the bacteria causing a given infection.

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[24 Forbes, 2023.9.13, https://www.forbes.com/sites/juergeneckhardt/2023/09/13/phage-therapy-to-defeat-superbugs-is-taking-off/?sh=6d6d28861307]