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The Good Virus looks at phages’ role in medicine, molecular biology, and the planet’s ecosystems. In this extract, Ireland explores how marine phage ecology is helping to create new insights that can help phage therapy.
Throughout the 20th century, scientists and doctors in places like Georgia, and other former Soviet countries like Russia and Poland, kept refining the use of phages as medicines. Drugs like penicillin were often hard to get in the Soviet Union and so they poured their efforts into producing thousands of litres of phage-based medicines every year. “When doctors in the West do try to use phages, it is often as a last resort.” Tom Ireland is a science journalist who has been researching and writing about phages for the last three years. He edits The Biologist magazine and is a regular contributor to BBC Science Focus. The Germans had been suffering outbreaks of cholera for weeks as they had advanced east towards Stalingrad, and the Soviets were desperate to prevent the disease from crossing the front line. Although this nasty bacterial disease had helped further deplete their enemy, it could also spread like wildfire among the soldiers and civilians crammed into a city under siege. So, a woman called Professor Zina-ida Yermol-yeva, from Moscow’s Institute of Experimental Medicine, had been sent by Joseph Stalin to assess the cholera outbreaks on the front and formulate a plan.Rohwer and Barr discovered that phages living near these reefs had evolved the ability to adhere to and penetrate the corals’ mucous layer. The reward for the phages that could penetrate the mucous was access to lots of bacterial hosts immobilised in the mucous, and therefore greater reproductive success. Artificially removing the phages increased the chances of the coral beneath the mucous layer becoming infected with bacteria. So, in return for access to lots of potential hosts, the phages were helping reduce bacterial growth on the outer surface for the coral.
This well researched book deserves it's high rating. Even though I have studied nutrition and have a general interest in health care, I still found myself learning new things in every chapter. How a mysterious, super-powerful—yet long-neglected—microbe rules our world and can rescue our health in the age of antibiotic resistance.Below, Tom shares five key insights from his new book, The Good Virus: The Untold Story of Phages. Listen to the audio version—read by Tom himself—in the Next Big Idea App. https://cdn.nextbigideaclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/05141256/BB_Tom-Ireland_MIX.mp3 1. Phages are nature’s antibiotics. With such inconsistent results, phages got a bad reputation. When antibiotic drugs came along, doctors in most countries found them far more consistent and convenient. Over the course of the 20th century, much of the world abandoned the idea of using phages, and then virtually forgot all about it. It’s written superbly and in such a way that it’s accessible for all. It effortlessly breaks down complicated science into easy to understand nuggets and in such a way that you’ll enjoy it all along the way. I already knew a little about phages and it’s early beginnings and applications but there was so much I learnt and am still yet to know! It really is such an interesting area of science so it’s a must read for all.
Though Ireland’s relentless optimism about phage therapy’s potential can suggest that only miserly pharmaceutical companies stand in the way of the treatment’s widespread availability, phage therapy is a long way from being consistently effective at treating infections. A new scientific frontier which couldn’t be more fascinating or vital. Phages are critical to our health, and the health of the whole planet. Brilliantly written and profound, this book is ahead of the curve and deserves to become a classic.—Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure and The Secret Body
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Bacteria are also constantly evolving, but they can develop resistance to antibiotics in many different ways, not just through evolution. Some bacteria already have resistance mechanisms in place. As antibiotics become more prevalent in the environment, the bacteria will select for this resistant mechanism and it will become more dominant in the gene pool. The author points out that antibiotic resistance shows up even in places with very little antibiotic usage. When watching a program on The Great Courses, I learned that even the Hadza (one of the last remaining hunter gatherer groups) have antibiotic resistance despite having never been exposed to antibiotics suggesting that it is environmentally derived. This means that antibiotic resistance is a global problem.
A colorful redemption story for the oft-neglected yet incredibly abundant phage. . . . Ireland, an award-winning science journalist, approaches the subject of his first book with curiosity and passion, delivering a deft narrative that is rich and approachable.—Alex Johnson, The New York Times Book Review A colorful redemption story for the oft-neglected yet incredibly abundant phage. . . . Ireland, an award-winning science journalist, approaches the subject of his first book with curiosity and passion, delivering a deft narrative that is rich and approachable." The New York Times Book Review - Alex Johnson What an amazing popular science book! I can’t remember the last time I thoroughly enjoyed reading one as much as this one. The Good Virus is truly a marvel from beginning to end! Ireland features case studies like this one throughout the book, and he interviews scientists in Georgia, the U.S., and the UK who hope one day to develop phages that can broadly treat common diseases. While phage therapy remains experimental, its study is growing rapidly. Several U.S. universities have established centers for the study of phage therapy, including Texas A&M, University of California San Diego, and of course, the University of Pittsburgh. And Ireland writes that in 2022, a pharmaceutical company, ACD Pharma, began construction on a major phage production plant in Norway. ACD Pharma’s goal is to examine whether phages can treat multi-drug resistant pneumonia and sepsis, and to develop phages to replace the use of antibiotics in industrial farming and aquaculture.
A masterful blend of jaw-dropping science and absorbing storytelling. . . . This book reminds us of the missed opportunities we simply cannot afford to miss again.—George McGavin, BBC and Discovery Channel presenter
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