This seemingly eternal struggle for supremacy continues today, with implications for diseases killing tens of thousands of people around the world each year.

“It’s a predator-prey relationship that is critically important to understand,” Nelson said.

Nelson and collaborators published a study in Science on April 18 revealing key insights into how bacteria killers called bacteriophages or phages impact the severity of the waterborne diarrheal disease cholera. Cholera kills between 21,000 and 143,000 people annually worldwide. It is a disease of poverty, striking regions lacking clean drinking water and sanitation.