To save a click: 72-year-old woman cured of a treatment-resistant e-coli infection in a study led by Dr. Greg German, an infectious disease physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital, part of Unity Health in Toronto. She had been suffering from it since age 65.

Without an effective way to stop it, the infection travelled up her urinary tract to one of her kidneys which had to be removed. Victoria feared the other would be at risk, too.

So on top of the pain she lost and was at risk of losing another organ. I’m glad it worked out so well for her.

When doctors saw bacteria levels start to rise again shortly after the treatment, they administered a mild antibiotic that had not worked before. Doctors suspect phages may make treatment-resistant bacteria more vulnerable to standard antibiotics.

So it seems like this treatment isn’t a total replacement for antibiotics but rather allows them to be used where they were ineffective before. That’s pretty neat.

Phage therapy may not be available in Canada but it did start here over 100 years ago.

French Canadian scientist Felix d’Herelle co-discovered these micro killers in 1917. Early studies showed they were very good at controlling outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid plague.

But phages were abandoned in favor of antibiotics, which could be mass-produced and were much more profitable. Eventually, D’Herelle moved to the Soviet Union to continue his work. And phages were relegated to the fringes of mainstream medicine.

Wasn’t expecting that, haha.