
A novel way to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria - known
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/12/01/a-novel-way-to-stop-the-spread-of-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria
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mattjaynes
On a sidenote, if you are thinking of visiting Tbilisi, Georgia (hotspot for
phage therapy) I definitely recommend it. It's gorgeous, both day and night
and so fun to walk around. There's some amazing architecture and great
dramatic views from atop the surrounding hills. The city hosts people from all
around the world, so it's fairly easy to get around even if you don't speak
any Russian. Here's a video to get a feel for the city:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWvXMGzUew4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWvXMGzUew4)

~~~
StavrosK
> it's fairly easy to get around even if you don't speak any Russian

Is Russian that widespread in Georgia? That sentence strikes me as odd, it
would be like going to the US and saying "it's easy to get around even if you
don't speak any Spanish".

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cmrdporcupine
Never been but I think the assumption of the writer is that pretty much nobody
who isn't from Georgia is going to speak Georgian, while my understanding is
that due to history a high percentage of the Georgian population is fluent in
Russian.

Given geo-politics I imagine this is probably starting to change, and that
more and more Georgians are probably learning English. But that's just a
hunch.

~~~
StavrosK
That makes sense, thank you.

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gojomo
Such bacteriophages are one area where Soviet research/practice outpaced the
West: [https://slate.com/technology/2006/05/the-soviet-method-
for-a...](https://slate.com/technology/2006/05/the-soviet-method-for-
attacking-infection.html)

~~~
Uberphallus
A very insightful and concise video on bacteriophages by Kurzgesagt:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3tsmFsrOg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3tsmFsrOg)

~~~
war1025
That video was awesome. I really liked the animation style they used.

~~~
lugg
Maybe not so animated but I really got excited by this ted talk about phages.

[https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_belcredi_how_a_long_forg...](https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_belcredi_how_a_long_forgotten_virus_could_help_us_solve_the_antibiotics_crisis/)

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tutanchamun
Bacteriophages are cool. I watched a documentary two or three years ago about
western people travelling to Tbilisi, Georgia (were they use bacteriophages
since the 1930s) in hope for tratment of their wounds which were infected with
antibiotica resistant bacteria.

First they determined which phages to use and then they injected them into the
wounds while also giving the patient a cocktail to drink multiple times of the
day that also contained these phages.

At least for the patients shown this was helpful.

~~~
elliekelly
Any chance you remember what the documentary was called?

~~~
tutanchamun
Unfortunately not, I tried to find it yesterday but had no luck. The only
documentation I could find was a recent one in german [0] but the one I
watched was in english.

In this documentation they also mentioned that there are two different types
of phages and only one is usable. They also mentioned that food companies
already try to use them to disinfect food by spraying phages on the food.

[0]
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zdf.de%2Fgesellschaft%2Fplan-b%2Fplan-
b-heilen-ohne-antibiotika-100.html) (not sure if that can even be viewed
outside of germany, it's also not only about phages but multiple alternatives
to antibiotics, but it seem similar -> people travel to georgia for treatment;
there are two patients, one from germany and one from the netherlands)

~~~
elliekelly
Awesome, thanks!

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philpem
Archive.is link: [http://archive.is/WP9F6](http://archive.is/WP9F6)

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divan
Kurzgesagt has a great short video on phages:
[https://youtu.be/YI3tsmFsrOg](https://youtu.be/YI3tsmFsrOg)

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AllegedAlec
I don't see how this would be a long term solution. The bacteriophages would
evolve to expand, or even switch their host selection pretty quickly if
similar non-resistant strains of E. coli are available. E. coli is a pretty
fast adapter itself. It'd become an evolutionary arms race, and as we've seen
from the Lenski experiments, that does not result in the destruction of the
pathogen's host.

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emiliobumachar
"When offered various bacteria as potential prey, [the viruses] attacked only
it."

Any insights on how that might work, beyond attacking every option but only
succeeding in one? Viruses are presumably too simple to make a strategic
choice.

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
Bacteriophage are quite selective for their prey.

“To enter a host cell, bacteriophages attach to specific receptors on the
surface of bacteria, including lipopolysaccharides, teichoic acids, proteins,
or even flagella. This specificity means a bacteriophage can infect only
certain bacteria bearing receptors to which they can bind, which in turn
determines the phage's host range. Host growth conditions also influence the
ability of the phage to attach and invade them.” from Wikipedia

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extrememacaroni
My god is this website awful, this is what I see when I first open it up:
[https://i.imgur.com/wcUDbhD.png](https://i.imgur.com/wcUDbhD.png)

~~~
whitepoplar
I subscribe to The Economist and I still get all that crap.

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gumby
How lovely that the scientist who figured this out in Saudi is not just a
foreigner but also a _woman_. It must be tough for her to work there.

Wonder how the local news reported it?

~~~
StavrosK
This is entirely off topic, but it peeves me when people use just the
adjective to describe a name when the name is "<adjective> <noun>". It's like
saying "He lives in South" when you mean "South Carolina". Same goes for
calling "Wikipedia" "Wiki" or "cryptocurrency" "crypto".

~~~
nkrisc
Agreed. Calling "Saudi Arabia" just "Saudi" is like calling "British Columbia"
just "British."

~~~
ninju
In case where the missing "noun" can lead to confusion it makes sense but are
there multiple Saudi "noun" options ?

~~~
StavrosK
A Saudi is someone from the Arabian peninsula, further complicating things.

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bbrian
Don't eat meat.

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chrisweekly
I'd suggest instead: if you're going to eat meat, be picky about its
provenance. Specifically, insist on grass-fed beef (as the corn-based diet of
factory cattle is a major contributor to sick cows and the "need" for
antibiotics). Voting with your wallet -- thus providing signal to the
marketplace that how meat is sourced matters -- is more effective than opting
out altogether. Not an option for everyone, but many omnivores could take this
approach. Combined with options like "impossible burger" we might be on the
verge of a tipping point towards a large and positive change.

~~~
paulcole
Opting out altogether is the most powerful form of voting with your wallet.

~~~
chrisweekly
Not necessarily. By opting out, there's no signal at all that it matters how
the meat is sourced.

~~~
paulcole
How does the factory farmer know whether:

A) I buy my meat at the farmer's market.

B) I buy tempeh instead of meat.

~~~
chrisweekly
It's not about one factory farmer being connected so directly to your specific
choices, it's more like: restauranteers and grocers increasingly notice
customers insisting on local, humanely raised, grass-fed beef, and thus they
reduce their factory-meat order size and quantity. Factory farmer asks why,
maybe gets an answer and thinks about improving conditions, or maybe doesn't
in which case it's still a net win as the market share shifts in favor of the
"good guys".

