History
Since ancient times, reports of river waters having the ability to cure infectious diseases have been documented, such as leprosy. In 1896, Ernest Hanbury Hankin reported that something in the waters of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India had marked antibacterial action against cholera and could pass through a very fine porcelain filter. In 1915, British bacteriologist Frederick Twort, superintendent of the Brown Institution of London, discovered a small agent that infected and killed bacteria. He believed the agent must be one of the following:
- a stage in the life cycle of the bacteria;
- an enzyme produced by the bacteria themselves; or
- a virus that grew on and destroyed the bacteria.
Twort's work was interrupted by the onset of World War I and shortage of funding.
Read more about this topic: Bacteriophage
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