Phage Therapy in Animal Health

To overcome the hurdle of antimicrobial resistance, researchers are exploring the use of phage therapy as an alternative or supplement to antibiotics to fight infections in animals. With our strong technology platform and theoretical knowledge, Creative Biolabs provides cutting-edge and reliable phage therapy development services to customers all over the world to advance the progress and application of phage therapy in the field of animal health.

Phage Therapy in Animal Health

Bacteriophages are viruses that can parasitize bacteria, a property that allows them to be used to treat infections caused by bacteria or to control the population of specific colonies. In fact, phages were used for microbial control of bacteria as early as the 90th century when bacteriophages were first discovered. But it is only recently that the widespread of drug-resistant bacteria has brought phages to the attention of the research community as a tool against a variety of pathogenic microorganisms and as a means of preventing and treating bacterial diseases in animal operations.

The goals of using phage therapy in animal health mainly include reducing the impact of infectious diseases caused by several bacterial pathogens on animal health and production, and eliminating the bacterial load transmitted from various animal processed products to humans to prevent zoonotic disease pathogens.

Bacteria and Targeted Phage Therapy in Animal Health

Animal pathogens or zoonotic human pathogens that can lead to production reduction in the breeding industry are mainly Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Salmonella, Pasteurella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Listeria, Clostridium perfringens, Aeromonas, Flavobacterium and Vibrio.

Bordetella bronchiseptica

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a microflora that resides in the upper respiratory tract of organisms including cats, dogs, pigs, rabbits, horses, etc. Infection with this pathogen causes infectious tracheobronchitis, conjunctivitis, and pneumonia. Many phages that parasitize and kill B. bronchiseptica have been isolated and well characterized.

Fig. 1 Genomic map of circularly permuted vB_BbrS_LK3 Bordetella phage dsDNA.¹

Pasteurella

Pasteurella parasitizes mammals and birds, including cattle, pigs, donkeys, horses, sheep, and more often chickens and ducks. Infections with specific serotypes of Pasteurella can cause hemorrhagic sepsis, avian cholera, or atrophic rhinitis. Many phages have been shown to be effective against Pasteurella.

Fig. 2 The activity of vB_PmuP_PHB02 against wild-type Pasteurella and capsule-deficient mutants. (Chen, 2018)

Aeromonas

Aeromonas, Flavobacterium, and Vibrio are the three most common fish pathogens that, when transferred to humans, cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and severe infections lead to sepsis and even death. Nearly 100 phage types have been identified that can effectively control Aeromonas.

Fig. 3 Electron micrographs of nine Aeromonas phages. (Bai, 2019)

Other Bacteria

Various types of bacteria and bacteriophages for targeted population control have been extensively studied, some of which are also well characterized and used in animal health.

Some common pathogens and their targeted phage therapy have been listed at additional links:

• Phage Therapy in Human Infectious Diseases
• Phage Therapy in Food Safety
• Phage Therapy in Agriculture

We need more research to elucidate the true application and hygiene/economic potential of phage therapy in animal health. As a leading company in the field of biotechnology, Creative Biolabs processes an excellent and advanced phage-related technology platform and provides novel phage therapy in animal health-related services to customers around the world. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Reference:

1. Petrovic Fabijan, Aleksandra, et al. "Are Bordetella bronchiseptica Siphoviruses (Genus Vojvodinavirus) Appropriate for Phage Therapy—Bacterial Allies or Foes?." Viruses 13.9 (2021): 1732. Under Open Access license CC BY 4.0. The image was modified by revising the title.
2. Chen, Yibao, et al. "Therapeutic application of bacteriophage PHB02 and its putative depolymerase against Pasteurella multocida capsular type A in mice." Frontiers in Microbiology 9 (2018): 1678. Under Open Access license CC BY 4.0. The image was modified by revising the title.
3. Bai, Meng, et al. "Nine novel phages from a plateau Lake in Southwest China: insights into Aeromonas phage diversity." Viruses 11.7 (2019): 615. Under Open Access license CC BY 4.0. The image was modified by extracting and using only Part A of the original image and revising the title.