Doctors find virus in a pond, use it to destroy antibiotic-resistant bacteria in man's heart

After Yale doctors replaced a major blood vessel in a 76-year-old man's heart, his chest became infected with bacteria. 

The usual solution would be to destroy the harmful bacteria with antibiotics. But the doctors found their antibiotics wouldn't kill the microbe, P. aeruginosa, which like many bacteria in recent years, had become resistant to traditional drugs.

So, doctors turned to an experimental solution, involving a bacteria-killing virus known as a bacteriophage. 

SEE ALSO: This Apple Watch wristband successfully detected abnormal heart rhythms

Running out of options, doctors employed this still-experimental treatment, inserting hundreds of thousands of viruses — known to combat this very bacteria — into the man's chest. On Thursday, Yale announced the treatment worked and published the study in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. Read more...

More about Science, Health, Antibiotic Resistance, Science, and Health

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