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The good virus : the amazing story and forgotten promise of the phage / Tom Ireland.

by Ireland, Tom (Science journalist).

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W. W. Norton & Company, 2023.

Bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages -- Therapeutic use.

9781324050834 (hc.)

Alternate title:

Amazing story and forgotten promise of the phage

1st American ed.

ix, 389 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

First published in Great Britain in 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton, an Hachette UK company.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared. The book prompts us to reconsider, and to discover, how these viruses could save countless lives if we can learn to harness their extraordinary abilities. Taking us inside the ongoing quest to use phages' powers for good, Tom Ireland introduces us to the brilliant, often eccentric, scientists who have fought to realize phages' potential in the face of doubt and political intrigue. We meet the renegade French-Canadian scientist who discovered phages and pioneered their use as medicine over a century ago, leading them to be hailed as the world's first genuine antibiotic years before penicillin..."--From publisher.

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