I fail to understand why the broader scientific community failed to entertain the idea of phages for sometime. You apply the scientific method, and you seek truth. Maybe earlier indicators to the effectiveness weren't great, but you will only know for certain if you apply the scientific method.
The West used phage therapy for a long time. It developed a reputation for killing people, because poorly prepared phage preparations contain bacterial endotoxins that will kill your patient.
But it wasn't the scientific community "failing to entertain the idea of phages". It was very real logistical challenges to the use of phage therapy, which may or may not be overcome, but were definitely in a "The juice is not worth the squeeze" realm until recently.
But I've been working in infectious diseases for 20 years, and we've been discussing and evaluating the potential of phage or phage-derived compounds that entire time.
