The world is running out of antibiotics. Careless use, overuse and the injection of these substances into the food chain to increase the growth rate of cattle and chickens has brought this life saving technology to the brink of disaster.
Of the 51 newest antibiotics just developed only eight show any real promise.
In the case of sexually transmitted diseases, the future for the control of gonorrhea is quite grim.
This is also true for the control of tuberculosis.
Today, we have discovered the lifesaving power of what are called “Oncolytic Viruses.” These are viruses that can be used to kill cancer cells.
All we have done is suddenly “discovered” a tool that has been proven to be effective for nearly 100 years.
In the 1920s and 1930s there were no antibiotics. The medical profession had to use other methods to fight diseases.
The Soviets discovered that many bacteria were as sensitive to viruses as are we. The Soviet scientists took thousands of different viruses and coated Petri dishes containing various bacteria of interest. The Soviets discovered that certain viruses killed certain bacteria. They also discovered that these viruses were extremely selective in what they killed. They were like a sniper’s bullet and took out only that single entity.
This is NOT true with many of today’s antibiotics. Many of them might kill the bacteria but they can cause the death of the patient. Antibiotics such as Rifampin and oxacillin destroy your liver. Azole antifungals and fluoroquinolones can destroy your heart.
During World War Two, the Soviet troops were fitted with viral solutions that were used to stop infections including such really grotesque diseases as Gas Gangrene. These viruses worked.
Today the center of this research and care is in Tbilisi in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. The center is called The George Eliava Institute.
The use of what is called “Phage Therapy” is real and it is very effective. The method has been in the news recently when a woman saved her husband’s life through phage therapy when all the doctors had given up hope.
The Sanctuary, A new Empire
There are three reasons why this is important in the Sanctuary. The diversity of its population and the diversity of its illnesses make for some a difficult if not a dire future. The incredibly large population of viruses in the Sanctuary, and in San Francisco Bay, are, thankfully, just waiting to be discovered. They are a fantastic resource for finding thousands of effective viruses from the tens of millions of different viruses around us. Lastly, the money and computer technology available in the Sanctuary is far beyond anything available anyplace else on earth.
The process is simple. For the viruses in San Francisco Bay one just draws water from the bay and filters out the particulate matter. The liquid is then filtered again to remove the bacteria. What remains is just water and myriad viruses. These viruses can be selected and separated. They can also be selectively grown.
Once you have that specific virus concentration you can deposit that virus onto growth media containing the bacteria of interest. Just a few days later and you will discover whether the virus of interest was effective. The good news is that the selected virus can then be customized. CRISPR components can then be built into these viruses to make them even more lethal to the selected bacteria..
Why is the Sanctuary so important? In today’s world of automation and robots, this entire process can be automated.
There are tens of billions of dollars to be found at the Sanctuary’s three largest money engines: Google and Facebook and Apple. Those billions can be applied to this problem. If ever there was a problem that could be automated and produce result in weeks or months and not decades, this is the one.
There is no reason the Sanctuary cannot become the world’s center for such medical treatments with hundreds of different disease-killer viruses ready to save humanity.