Antibiotics have a lot of side effects. But is it possible to replace them with something?

It's hard to deny the fact that antibioticsare extremely effective in treating a host of diseases that were considered almost incurable a few hundred years ago. However, these drugs have a lot of side effects affecting almost our entire body. But is it possible to preserve the positive effect of the drug, getting rid of the negative? It turns out that this is not so difficult.

As it often happens, she herself came to the rescue.nature. Currently, a group of scientists from George Mason University is conducting full-scale studies of drugs that can be the safest alternative to antibiotics. New drugs are based on bacteriophages. Bacteriophages are, of course, far from being a new invention, and they live freely in nature. At their core, bacteriophages are special viruses that selectively infect certain bacterial cells. Once inside the cell, viruses multiply and eventually cause the death of the latter. If you “teach” bacteriophages to cope with certain bacteria, they will act no worse than antibiotics. As stated by study author Taylor Wallace,

"Antibiotics do not always cure diseases without consequences, because often after potent drugs other medicines have to be taken to cope with the effects of treatment."

The results of clinical studiesconfirmed the safety of drugs and almost 100% tolerance of bacteriophages by the human body. New drugs can be used as an alternative to antibiotic therapy in the treatment of lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. Some experts even suggest that in the future such bacteriophages can be used for the treatment of other organs and systems.

“Already, bacteriophages can effectively and without consequences eliminate stomach pain, chronic diarrhea and other infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.”