Our Viral Futures - (Science Now) by Charlotte Brives

About the Book

"Phage therapy uses properties of bacteriophage viruses to treat disease. It involves deploying viruses into the human body to consume bacteria in order to treat infection. This may seem counter-intuitive after years of an ongoing global pandemic, but one that needs to be taken seriously in light of increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which The World Health Organization believes to be one of the major public health challenges of the 21st century. How do phages work? What concerns - both biological and social - exist in deploying viruses in this way? In Our Viral Futures Charlotte Brives explores the complex and varied relationships between humans, phages, and bacteria in order to understand how and in what contexts these viruses can provide a relevant response to the problem of antibiotic resistance. This includes patients seeking treatment for painful and debilitating chronic infections, collective attempts to establish new regulatory frameworks to research into the interactions between phages and bacteria in the laboratory, setting up of clinical trials, researching microbial ecology to understand the seeming limitless relationships between humans and microbes that inextricably link human societies and microbial communities, and the dangers of economic capture. As these relationships are described, the evolutionary potential of microbes blurs the dividing lines and the usual categories with which scientists think about the world, giving rise to new moral and political questions. Brives argues that microbes have their own agency and as a result, humans need to deal with them. Phage therapy may be a first step in this new kind of relationship"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of today's greatest threats to public health. Yet a possible solution has emerged from a surprising source. Phage therapy deploys viruses called bacteriophages, "bacteria eaters," to treat bacterial infections. What concerns--both biological and social--arise from using viruses in this way? What does phage therapy reveal about the links between humans and microbes?

In Our Viral Futures, Charlotte Brives examines the development and implications of this therapy, providing new ways to understand our interconnections with the microbial world. Considering patients seeking treatment for chronic infections, the establishment of new regulatory frameworks, and the complex processes of laboratory research and clinical trials, she highlights the complexity and variety of the relationships among humans, phages, and bacteria. Brives places phage therapy in the context of the widespread use of antibiotics under industrial capitalism, which has deployed these treatments in order to enable ecologically devastating forms of mass production and consumption. She argues that the connections between human societies and microbial communities defy the usual categories through which science and medicine understand the world, giving rise to new moral and political questions. Interdisciplinary and nuanced, Our Viral Futures poses a provocative challenge: Instead of continuing to assert that we can control and master microbes, we must learn to coexist with them.

About the Author

Charlotte Brives is an anthropologist of science and biomedicine. She is a research director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique and the Centre Émile Durkheim.

Bruno Latour (1947-2022) was among the most important figures in science and technology studies.