Could viruses help fight super-bugs?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2019
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are slowly running out of ammunition to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria. Listener Peter wants to know whether a therapy that he’d heard about in the 1980s could be revived to help us where antibiotics falls short.
CrowdScience travels to Georgia where “phages”, viruses that hunt and kill bacteria, have been used for nearly 100 years to treat illnesses ranging from a sore throat to cholera. Phages are fussy eaters – a specific phage will happily chew on one bug but ignore another. In Georgia, scientists have kept rare phages safe for decades and are constantly on the look-out for new ones.
CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton speaks to the scientists and doctors who are pioneering phage-therapy as well as overseas patients who have travelled thousands of miles in hope of finding a cure.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Louisa Field
(Photo: Bacteriophage infecting bacterium. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
| 0:12.0 | That's the thing I love about podcasts. |
| 0:14.4 | You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes. |
| 0:18.4 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
| 0:21.9 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
| 0:24.3 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC |
| 0:29.1 | Sounds? |
| 0:30.1 | 60 seconds. |
| 0:32.1 | We choose to go to the moon. |
| 0:34.0 | 40 feet down 2.5. |
| 0:35.0 | Neil said we can't land here. |
| 0:37.0 | Everyone is sitting there not knowing what has happened. |
| 0:40.0 | 30 seconds. |
| 0:41.0 | We might not make it. |
| 0:42.0 | 13 minutes to the moon, |
| 0:45.0 | from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:48.0 | coming soon. How is it it? No, it's fine. I'm Marnie Chesterton and that's me drinking millions of viruses. |
| 1:03.6 | It's a very distinctive taste. |
| 1:05.6 | It's like... |
| 1:06.6 | Reasty, brothy, savory, yeah, odd, but not bad. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.