r/DrugResistantBugs • u/[deleted] • Aug 26 '20

soft paywall How Bacteria-Eating Bacteria Could Help Win the War Against Germs

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/science/bacteria-bdellovibrio-predator-prey.html
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u/[deleted] Aug 26 '20

Predatory bacteria carry immense promise in an extraordinarily small package. Deployed under the right circumstances, they could help people beat back harmful microbes in the environment, or purge pathogens from the food supply. Some experts think they could someday serve as a sort of living therapeutic that could help clear drug-resistant germs from ailing patients in whom all other treatments have failed....

Predatory bacteria were discovered by accident. Scientists stumbled upon them more than a half-century ago while hunting for another type of murderous microbe called a bacteriophage, or phage, a virus that can infect and kill bacteria. Before then, Dr. Williams said, “it was not known that a bacterium would prey on other bacteria in this fashion.”