HAYLEY WICKENS and PAUL WADE, authors of the article, respond:

Thank you for your observation concerning the potential use of bacteriophages in multi-drug resistant infection. Although we are aware of past, uncontrolled (but promising) work in Eastern Europe, the utility of phage therapy in plant and animal settings, and the ongoing research into human applications of phage therapy, both the remit of our article and the still experimental nature of phage research led us to omit this topic.

There is growing interest from researchers in this area, and many of the initial drawbacks of phage therapy are being addressed, with potentially exciting results being achieved.

Should we be commissioned to revisit this area in the future, the increasing focus on phage therapy worldwide (including in the UK) is likely to ensure that this topic will be covered in significantly more detail.