The living medicine : how a lifesaving cure was nearly lost--and why it will rescue us when antibiotics fail / Lina Zeldovich.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zeldovich, Lina, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bacteriophages--Therapeutic use.

Bacteriophages.

Medical Subjects:

Bacteriophages.

Physical Description:

xi, 302 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2024.

Summary:

"A remarkable story of the scientists behind a long-forgotten and life-saving cure: the healing viruses that can conquer antibiotic resistant bacterial infections First discovered in 1917, bacteriophages-or "phages"-are living medicines: viruses that devour bacteria. Ubiquitous in the environment, they are found in water, soil, inside plants and animals, and in the human body. When phages were first recognized as medicines, their promise seemed limitless. Grown by research scientists and physicians in France, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere to target specific bacteria, they cured cholera, dysentery, bubonic plague, and other deadly infectious diseases. But after Stalin's brutal purges and the rise of antibiotics, phage therapy declined and nearly was lost to history-until today. In The Living Medicine, acclaimed science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of phages, told through the lives of the French, Soviet, and American scientists who discovered, developed, and are reviving this unique cure for seemingly-intractable diseases. Ranging from Paris to Soviet Georgia to Egypt, India, South Africa, remote islands in the Far East, and America, The Living Medicine shows how phages once saved tens of thousands of lives. Today, with our antibiotic shield collapsing, Zeldovich demonstrates how phages are making our food safe and, in cases of dire emergency, rescuing people from the brink of death. They may be humanity's best defense against the pandemics to come. Filled with adventure, human ambition, tragedy, technology, irrepressible scientists and the excitement of their innovation, The Living Medicine offers a vision of how our future may be saved by knowledge from the past"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The surge of the superbugs

The parasite of microbes

A Georgian in Paris

Phages rise to fame and glory

Together in Tiflis

The great terror

Hell on Earth, cholera in water, phages underground

The rise of the superbugs

Phages endangered

A Georgian in Maryland

The phage whisperer

Naive and stubborn, a winning combination

The superbug that won the Oscar

and the FDA

The perfect storm's aftermath

Phaging into the future.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781250283382

1250283388

OCLC:

1414164662