Bacteriophages as a Potential 360-Degree Pathogen Control Strategy

Abstract

Bacteriophages are viruses that exclusively kill bacteria and are the most ubiquitous organisms on the planet. Since their discovery, bacteriophages have been considered an important weapon to fight human and animal infections of bacterial origin due to their specific ability to attack the associated target bacteria. With the discovery of antibiotics, phage treatment was progressively abandoned in Western countries. However, due to the recent emergence of growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to antibiotics, interest in phage use in human therapy has once again grown. Similarly, at the environmental level, the extensive use of disinfectants based on chemicals, including biocides in agriculture, has been associated with the emergence of resistance against disinfectants themselves, besides having a high environmental impact. Due to these issues, the applications of phages with biocontrol purposes have become an interesting option in several fields, including farms, food industry, agriculture, aquaculture and wastewater plants. Notably, phage action is maintained even when the target bacteria are multidrug resistant (MDR), rendering this option extremely interesting in counteracting AMR emergence both for therapeutical and decontamination purposes. Based on this, bacteriophages have been interestingly proposed as environmental routine sanitizers in hospitals, to counteract the spread of the pathogenic MDR bacteria that persistently contaminate hard surfaces. This review summarizes the studies aimed at evaluating the potential use of phages as decontaminants, with a special focus on hospital sanitation.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; bacteriophages; biocontrol; environment; surface contamination.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of bacteriophage lytic and lysogenic lifecycles, respectively carried out by virulent (lytic) and temperate (lysogenic) bacteriophages. Only lytic bacteriophages are suitable for decontamination/therapy purposes.

Figure 2

Schematic representation of combined cleaning system including a probiotic-based detergent additioned with bacteriophages. The probiotic component is characterized by a slow and gradual action, based on a mechanism based on competitive exclusion, remodulating the microbiome in a slow and gradual activity. Treatment is more rapid and specific.

Figure 3

Potential applications of lytic bacteriophages.