Why Haven't I Ever Heard of Bacteriophages?

Despite bacteriophage therapy being used for around 100 years, it is not commonly known and requires a lot more research. As I've already mentioned in previous blogs, once antibiotics were discovered they became the center of attention in terms of an easy, broad-spectrum medication. While phages are in need of testing in order to target a certain type of disease or illness, the same antibiotics (because they kill both the good and bad bacteria) can be used to treat a variety of issues. This, however, causes the bacteria to quickly develop a resistance to these antibiotics. Not only may phage therapy be a useful alternative to antibiotics, but it also may be a kind of last resort once these bacteria become resistant to our trusted antibiotics. Antibiotics attack those bacteria causing illness, but they also attack those that help you digest and make nutrients. This is the reason that antibiotics come with many potential side effects. 
Most people do not know about phage therapy as an alternative medication. This is because phage therapy has not yet been approved within the United States and Europe, and there have only been a few experimental cases. A lot of testing and research is required for phage therapy to be deemed completely safe for human medical use, but since antibiotics are considered safer to use and are readily available, phage therapy remains to be overlooked in most cases. Although not approved for human use yet, the United States FDA has approved phage therapy use within the food industry. Researchers have found that certain bacteriophage use can inhibit bacterial growth in the foods that we consume. This is extremely useful as it prevents humans from getting food poisoning (ex. salmonella). Additionally, phage therapy has also been tested in cleaning products to kill harmful surface bacteria. Maybe with more research surrounding phage therapy we could come to realize that bacteriophages have the ability to do more for human kind than we've ever imagined.

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