News Microbes

A bacteria-virus arms race could lead to a new way to treat shigellosis

As shigellosis-causing microbes evolve to escape a phage, the bacteria may become less deadly

an illustration of viruses attacking a rod-shaped bacterium

When bacteria evolve to become resistant to bacteria-killing viruses known as bacteriophages (illustrated attacking a bacterium), it doesn’t always end well for the bacteria.

Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Plus

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

- More than 2 years ago

When some bacteria manage to escape being killed by a virus, the microbes end up hamstringing themselves.