Airdate: Last Chance to save a Life

The second documentary Australia Uncovered this week on SBS is Last Chance to save a Life.

This special from Genepool Productions finds a new hope in a world threatened by deadly antibiotic-resistant infections, emerges from the unlikeliest of sources: viruses.

This follows patients, doctors, and scientists in nail-biting real time as they experience the extraordinary potential and challenges of ‘phage therapy;’ an elusive therapy that could hold the key to humanity’s survival.

Consumed by the reality of untreatable superbugs and fuelled by an unwavering determination, teams of brilliant young scientists in Melbourne and Sydney, led by Professor Anton Peleg and Professor Jon Iredell, are attempting to harness the power of phages. Bacteriophages – or ‘phages’ for short – are viruses that destroy bacteria. Conventional medical options are no longer an option for the patients, so they will be injected with trillions of phages, with the hope that the phages can defeat their bacterial enemy. Neither the scientists nor the patients know if this radical approach will work. As the clock ticks, together they embark on an audacious experiment.

In this riveting real-time narrative, the power of human resilience shines brightly as patients and their families are faced with the reality of the failure of antibiotics, from the heartbreaking goodbyes of loved ones, to finding hope in unexpected recoveries.

8:40pm Thursday on SBS.