A new type of remedy encourages healthy bacteria in the gut to grow and displace the ones that are causing an illness. A designer drug based on the bacterium used to ferment salami and sauerkraut is to be offered as an alternative to antibiotics in a year. The bug, a bacterium found in the human gut, is claimed to have already saved the lives of eight people. Instead of killing off the bad bacteria, the bug with a big name-- lactobacillus plantarum 299V-- encounrages the healthy microbes to grow and sqeeze out the unwanted ones.