Over recent decades, a growing body of literature has validated the use of bacteriophages for therapy and prophylaxis in the war against drug-resistant bacteria. Today, much more is known about bacteriophages than in the 1930s when phage therapy first appeared and began to spread to many countries. With rapid dissemination of multi-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens, the interest in alternative remedies to antibiotics, including bacteriophage treatments, is gaining new ground. Based on recent experience and current results of bacteriophage applications against bacterial infections in countries where this alternative therapy is approved, many scientists and companies have come to believe that the use of phages for treating and preventing bacterial diseases will be successful. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.