The Phage
Nope, it’s not Star Trek science…
Though, I have to admit, when I saw the article, the term “phage” caught my attention. The Phage was a kind of disease or plague that a species of “bad guys” suffered from on Star Trek Voyager.
In this article from Wired News, though, it’s something different. In the real world, it may be a viable alternative to the massive use of antibiotics that we’ve fallen to using everytime someone gets the sniffles. My wife still suffers from a wounded resistance to common colds and flus thanks to an overuse of antibiotics. Though, a far more disturbing trend is strains of bacteria that are more and more resistant to antibiotics. That is what these “phages”, short for “bacteriophage”, are designed to attack. Bacteriophages, or “bacteria eaters”, are designed to destroy one particular bacteria, leaving all the beneficial bacteria alone. Unlike antibiotics.
Okay, now for the science-ficiton bent… Can anyone see how this technology might go horribly wrong?
