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Speaking of viruses…

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This creepy creature is a virus in the bacteriophage (or phage) family. Discovered independently by Frederick Twort in 1915 and Félix d’Herelle in 1917, phages were used to treat cholera without any real understanding of how or why the treatment worked. The first time phages were seen under an electron microscope was in 1950, and that allowed scientists to understand the mechanics of phage therapy.

A phage invades a bacterium (its host) by latching on to a bacterial cell's surface and injecting its genome (DNA) through the host cell membrane and into the host's cytoplasm. The DNA consumes the nutrients within to produce more phages. Soon there are too many new phages for the host cell to contain, so it bursts and releases all the new phages which go searching for more bacteria to feed upon and reproduce. Bacteriophage viruses cannot survive or reproduce without bacteria.

Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viruses, found wherever bacteria exist. It is estimated there are more than 10³¹ bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other known organism.

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Phages invading bacteria

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Several phage products currently exist and are being explored as potential therapeutic remedies for people with drug-resistant bacterial infections. There is a risk that these viruses can become superbugs themselves though, so more research is needed before being approved for general use.
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Below is the link to a 1 minute video showing how phages work to kill bacteria. The narrator has a strong accent, but the video is illustrative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V73nEGXUeBY

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