UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

Bacteriophage therapy, a process in which viruses are used to kill bacteria, is an alternative method to antibiotic treatment. Viruses infect specific strains of pathogenic bacterial cells and are a safer option than antibiotics for the body’s natural defense system. As a result of the large increase in drug-resistant bacteria, society is approaching a pre-antibiotics era. Bacteriophages are a potential solution to this problem because of their applications in medicine and in agriculture, which could be applied to the human population. The purpose of this paper is to provide the history, use, and future applications of phage therapy to prove that it is a rational solution to the growing problem of drug-resistant bacteria.