Scientists have recently had important successes using a virus called vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to cure cancer. They alter a gene in VSV to make it completely safe for normal cells, and then inject it intravenously. VSV targets and kills tumor cells (in many different kinds of cancers, including brain, prostate, and ovarian cancers) and has even been shown to track down metastatic tumor cells in distant parts of the body. An older therapy getting a second chance involves use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. This technique was tried in the past with mixed success but was abandoned for more efficient antimicrobial drugs. The basis behind the therapy is that bacterial viruses would seek out only their specific host bacteria and would cause complete destruction of the bacterial cell. Newer experiments with animals have demonstrated that this method can control infections as well as traditional drugs can. Some potential applications being considered are adding phage suspension to grafts to control skin infections and to intravenous fluids for blood infections.