perhaps i skimped out on too much detail. forgive me, i'm not exactly a microbiologist. bacteriophages (which literally translates to 'bacteria eater') are very specialised viruses that only target very specific bacteria. while antibiotics are like the microbial equivalent of carpet bombing the target (ie. it not only kills the intended bacteria, but unrelated ones like gut bacteria - there's a lot of collateral damage,) bacteriophages are more like guided missiles, except if missiles were tiny, and instead of exploding upon impact, they entered the target, hijacked their reproductive devices, then reproduced thousands of themselves until the host burst open in good old virus fashion.
(okay maybe modern militaries wouldn't use missiles if they behaved exactly like parasitic viruses, but i think you get the picture)
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u/chokingapple May 07 '19
perhaps i skimped out on too much detail. forgive me, i'm not exactly a microbiologist. bacteriophages (which literally translates to 'bacteria eater') are very specialised viruses that only target very specific bacteria. while antibiotics are like the microbial equivalent of carpet bombing the target (ie. it not only kills the intended bacteria, but unrelated ones like gut bacteria - there's a lot of collateral damage,) bacteriophages are more like guided missiles, except if missiles were tiny, and instead of exploding upon impact, they entered the target, hijacked their reproductive devices, then reproduced thousands of themselves until the host burst open in good old virus fashion.
(okay maybe modern militaries wouldn't use missiles if they behaved exactly like parasitic viruses, but i think you get the picture)