Each year thousands of people die from bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Alternative drugs are urgently needed. A surprising ray of hope is actually a blast from the past. Viruses that kill bacteria, but not us, called 'phages' for short, were discovered around 1915, when infections were still a major cause of illness and death. Phage therapy became popular from the 1920s until the introduction of penicillin 20 years later. Only in the countries of the Eastern block did the therapy survive and thrive. Now western researchers and companies are working on its comeback.
This book tells the fascinating story of the discoverers of phages in the west and the Soviet Union. Thomas Häusler follows the trail of one pioneer killed by Stalin's secret service, and his successors in today's war-torn Georgia, accompanying patients taking phages because standard drugs fail them and investigates how these long-forgotten cures may help sick people today.
 
 
 
 
 
Each year thousands of people die from bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Alternative drugs are urgently needed. A surprising ray of hope is actually a blast from the past. Viruses that kill bacteria, but not us, called 'phages' for short, were discovered around 1915, when infections were still a major cause of illness and death. Phage therapy became popular from the 1920s until the introduction of penicillin 20 years later. Only in the countries of the Eastern block did the therapy survive and thrive. Now western researchers and companies are working on its comeback.
This book tells the fascinating story of the discoverers of phages in the west and the Soviet Union. Thomas Häusler follows the trail of one pioneer killed by Stalin's secret service, and his successors in today's war-torn Georgia, accompanying patients taking phages because standard drugs fail them and investigates how these long-forgotten cures may help sick people today.
 
VIRUSES vs. SUPERBUGS
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Thomas Häusler is science reporter with Swiss Public Radio and freelance science author. In his work he has covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from medicine to educational issues. After writing his first article about phage therapy in 2000, Thomas fell for these creatures and the topic became his area of expertise. This has resulted in several more articles and this book. He has won several awards for his journalistic work, one of them an article about phage therapy in the German weekly Die Zeit.
Thomas was born 1968 in Basel, Switzerland. After graduating in biochemistry at the University of Basel's Biocenter he got a Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Heidelberg. From 1995 to 1996 he attended the Berlin Journalism School. Subsequently he worked as a freelance reporter and as a business consultant with McKinsey and Company. In 1998 he joined the Swiss news magazine Facts. From 1999 until 2007 he was chief science editor of Facts.
Thomas lives in Basel with his wife and daughter.
 
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