Introduction

Millions of lives were saved thanks to the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s. However, with the increasing and sometimes inappropriate use of antibiotics, many microbial strains have begun to adapt and develop resistance to this therapy. In France, as in other industrialized countries, there is an increase in infections caused by bacterial strains that are multi-resistant to antibiotics, particularly nosocomial infections. Infections caused by multi-antibiotic-resistant microbes are difficult, if not impossible, to cure. Researchers are currently pursuing two main avenues to solve the problem: (i) the development of new, effective antibiotics, and (ii) the elaboration of an alternative to antibiotics. The development of new antibiotics is particularly time-consuming and costly. What's more, bacteria often become resistant to them soon after they have been marketed. At present, very...