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The article within NIH gives a brief introduction to bacteriophages, their functions, clinical significance, and enhancing healthcare team outcomes. Bacteriophages or phages are viruses that infect a single bacterial species. There exist many variants of phages, but all consist of a nucleic acid genome encased within a shell of phage-encoded capsid proteins. This protects the phages until it reaches their host and utilizes 1 of the 2 replication strategies: Lytic or Lysogenic. During lytic replication, the phage attaches to the host. The introduced viral genome utilizes the host ribosomes to manufacture viral proteins that assemble into copies of the original phage, and eventually cause lysis. In a lysogenic replication, the viral genome introduced into the host gets incorporated within the bacterial genome or maintained as an episomal element. These get passed to daughter bacterial cells without killing the host unless the prophages convert to a lytic replication. Bacteriophages can also transfer genes from one bacteria to another by transduction of either a generalized or specific manner. Generalized transduction provides random pieces of bacterial genomic DNA as the host disintegrates from lytic replication, while specialized transduction provides the same bacterial gene to the new host as the viruses occur in the same lineage of bacteria. In addition to this function of gene exchange, bacteriophages target specific bacteria without harm to others, and are more immunogenic than antimicrobial drugs. In a clinical significance: first, bacteriophage genomes code for highly pathogenic bacterial toxins and without it, the bacterial species become less pathogenic theoretically. Secondly, phages are vectors for horizontal gene transfer like antimicrobial resistance. A third aspect views phages as a biomarker for the presence of their host as they are mainly present where their host resides.  Phages provide many fundamental discoveries in molecular biology and help enhance healthcare as in the use of it in situations of antibiotic resistance and infection control, or a bacterial toxin mediated disease. 

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