The global rise in antibiotic resistance is making bacterial infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. Once considered miracle drugs, antibiotics are now losing their effectiveness against ever-evolving bacteria. One company is aiming to treat infections with a different strategy: arming tiny viruses called bacteriophages with Crispr. Known as phages for short, these viruses naturally infect and kill bacteria. Locus Biosciences of North Carolina is adding the gene-editing tool Crispr to the phages' armory to boost their killing ability. The company is testing the approach against urinary tract infections, or UTIs, caused by E. coli bacteria. Results from a small trial published in August suggest the experimental treatment has promise, but larger studies will be needed to confirm its benefits. Phages exist everywhere that bacteria do, including sewers and soil, and there are thousands of different types. Whereas antibiotics kill...
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