Citation: Bianchessi L,
De Bernardi G, Vigorelli M, et al.
Bacteriophage therapy in companion and farm animals. Antibiotics. 2024;13(4):294.
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Abstract
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Bacteriophages, which are viruses with restricted tropism for bacteria, have been employed for over a century as antimicrobial agents; they have been largely abandoned in Western countries but are constantly used in Eastern European countries with the advent of antibiotics. In recent decades, the growing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which pose a serious threat to worldwide public health, imposed an urgent demand for alternative therapeutic approaches to antibiotics in animal and human fields. Based on this requirement, numerous studies have been published on developing and testing bacteriophage-based therapy. Overall, the literature largely supports the potential of this perspective but also highlights the need for additional research as the current standards are inadequate to receive approval from regulatory authorities. This review aims to update and critically revise the current knowledge on the application of bacteriophages to treat bacterial-derived infectious diseases in animals in order to provide topical perspectives and innovative advances.
Communicated by: ProMED-AMR
[The review article describes recent advancements in bacteriophage therapy in veterinary medicine, highlighting its current applications, strengths, weaknesses, and identifying research gaps for future exploration.
“Phage therapy has been proposed as one of the most interesting alternatives due to its properties such as its high specificity, its ability to multiply at the site of infection and to evolve, the potential use of phage-derived enzymes, and also because of its economic cost. Therefore, phage therapy may be an important alternative for the treatment of infections in both livestock and companion animals.
Although several studies have been carried out in this area focusing on the treatment of pathogenic bacteria affecting different animals, further efforts are mandatory to enhance the value of phage therapy in animals and will open new avenues for bacterial treatment in the near future. Thus, phage therapy has been explored and proposed as a potential alternative to antibiotics but has not yet been recognized as a therapeutic tool.
“To overcome the obstacle of antimicrobial resistance, researchers are investigating the use of phage therapy as an alternative and/or supplementation to antibiotics to treat and prevent infections both in humans and in animals. In the first part of this review, we describe the unique biological characteristics of bacteriophages and the crucial aspects influencing the success of phage therapy.
However, despite their efficacy and safety, there is still no specific legislation that regulates their use. In the second part of this review, we describe the comprehensive research done in the past and recent years to address the use of phage therapy for the treatment and prevention of bacterial disease affecting domestic animals as an alternative to antibiotic treatments. While in farm animals, phage therapy efficacy perspectives have been widely studied in vitro and in vivo, especially for zoonoses and diseases linked to economic losses (such as mastitis), in pets, studies are still few and rather recent”
The review paper covered that bacteriophages have been used as antimicrobial agents for over a century, but their use has been largely abandoned in Western countries with the advent of antibiotics.
However, the growing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria has led to a renewed interest in bacteriophage-based therapy. Numerous studies have been published on the development and testing of bacteriophage therapy, which has shown potential in treating bacterial-derived infectious diseases in animals. Further studies are needed to improve the application of bacteriophage therapy in both companion and farm animals as an alternative to the inappropriate usage of antibiotics, which leads to reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) bacteria transmission from animals to humans. – Mod.TTM]
[See Also: Antimicrobial stewardship (32): in vitro efficacy, bacteriophages, biofilm infections http://promedmail.org/post/20240201.8714582 2023
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Research & innovation (50): China, MRSA, phage therapy, effective tool http://promedmail.org/post/20231003.8712432 Antimicrobial stewardship (118): bovine mastitis, bacteriophage therapy, review http://promedmail.org/post/20230814.8711687 2022
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Bacteriophage therapy: phage products to combat AMR http://promedmail.org/post/20220824.8705206 Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria: drug-resistant, bacteriophage therapy http://promedmail.org/post/20220611.8703806 Research & innovation (33): mathematical model, efficacy, phage therapy http://promedmail.org/post/20220520.8703368
Mycobacteroides abscesses: 1st successful bacteriophage Rx, AMR lung infection http://promedmail.org/post/20220516.8703276 Research & innovation (16): Singapore, phage lysin, MDR bacteria, alternative tx http://promedmail.org/post/20220222.8701588 2021
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Research & innovation (113): China, nanofragments, bacteriophage, wastewater http://promedmail.org/post/20211229.8700567