Bacteriophages are a likely new alternative to antibiotics. They are a certain type of virus, and they only target the certain type of bacteria they are meant to kill. Athough phages were used in Georgia (the country), Poland, and Russia in the early 20th century, Western Europe and America paid no attention because of antibiotics, the medicine that they had recently discovered.
Bacteriophages are made up of an icosahedron head, which includes its genetic material, a tail, and legs. They only target a certain type of bacteria, so the bad baceria can be killed without the good ones dying, which is another problem with antibiotics. Phages work by finding the strain of bacteria that it can kill, and uses its tail to pump in its DNA. The phages don't stop until the whole cell is filled with the phage's genetic material, and the bacteria is forced to make new phages. The new phages then releases an enzyme that makes a large hole on the cell and the cell releases all of its insides and dies.
Since phages only target a certain strain of bacteria, they kill the bacteria that make you sick, and not the ones that you need to live with. Phages also die off when there aren't anymore bacteria to feed off of. Antibiotics, on the other hand, kill all non-resitant bacteria that they come in contact with, and kills bacteria as long as you are using antibiotic medication.