The Living Medicine: How a Lifesaving Cure Was Nearly Lost—and Why It Will Rescue Us When Antibiotics Fail

In this robust study, journalist Zeldovich (The Other Dark Matter) explores the medical promise of bacteriophages, “a special type of virus that preys on bacteria.” She explains that relying on antibiotics to fight bacterial infections has led to the evolution of “superbugs” impervious to the drugs. Phages can succeed where antibiotics fail, according to Zeldovich, because they evolve alongside the bacteria they destroy and only target one type of bacteria, meaning that phages that kill salmonella, for instance, won’t harm gut bacteria that help humans digest food. Highlighting remarkable success stories, Zeldovich tells how in 2023, Russian cinematographer Andrey Zvyaginstev, who was suffering from an infection in his lungs that prevented doctors from giving him a life-saving lung transplant, received a phage infusion that so thoroughly beat the infection, his lungs healed and he no longer needed the transplant. Zeldovich makes a strong case that medical professionals are underutilizing phages, and she provides fascinating historical background on why they’ve been overlooked, describing how phage therapies’ popularity in the Soviet Union, where they could be purchased over the counter at pharmacies, led Western doctors to view them with suspicion. Though this covers much of the same ground as Tom Ireland’s The Good Virus, it’s nonetheless a strong overview of phage treatments’ history and benefits. Agent: Luba Ostashevsky, Pande Literary. (Oct.)