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The group's previous work includes creating a portable testing library to match phages to otherwise untreatable antibiotic-resistant infections, a contamination test incorporated into food packaging, and a temperature-stable storage system for live vaccines.

With the rapid development of antibiotics in the 1930s, phage therapy -- using viruses known as bacteriophages or phages to tackle bacterial infections -- fell into oblivion.

Zeldovich details the personal stories of the men who first recognized phages’ potential before moving into their modern rediscovery and ongoing development in the U.S.

"We wanted to find out if the low numbers of SAR11 were caused by phages, that is viruses that specifically infect bacteria," explains Jan Brüwer, who conducted the study as part of his doctoral thesis.

One of the advantages of phage therapy, which uses viruses to kill bacteria, "is that unlike antibiotics which need to be given repeatedly, it has this mechanism of self-amplification," Zamora continues.