Potential to Use Ultraviolet-Treated Bacteriophages to Control Foodborne Pathogens

Phages for treatment of Escherichia coli infections

Diseases due to infections by pathogenic Escherichia coli strains are on the rise and with the growing antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens, including this group. Thus, alternative therapeutic options are actively investigated. Among these alternatives is phage therapy. In the case of E. coli, the combination of the well understood biology of this species and its bacteriophages represents a good guiding example for the establishment of phage therapy principles against this and other pathogenic bacteria. In this chapter, the procedures toward the development of phage therapy against pathogenic E. coli with the use of T-even group of phages are discussed. These steps involve the isolation, purification, characterisation and large-scale production of these phages, with formulation of phage cocktails for in vitro and in vivo studies. The main emphasis is made on phage therapy of enteropathogenic E. coli O157:H, which is one of the prominent human pathogens but persists as a commensal bacterium in many food animals. The implementation of phage therapy against E. coli O157:H within the One Health framework in carrier animals and for treatment of meat, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural produce thus would allow controlling and interrupting the transmission routes of this pathogen to the human food chain and preventing human disease. Examples of successful control and elimination of E. coli O157:H are given, while the problems encountered in phage treatment of this pathogen are also discussed.

Biocontrol Approaches against Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Foods

Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a well-known water- and food-borne zoonotic pathogen that can cause gastroenteritis in humans. It threatens the health of millions of people each year; several outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 infections have been linked to the consumption of contaminated plant foods (e.g., lettuce, spinach, tomato, and fresh fruits) and beef-based products. To control E. coli O157:H7 in foods, several physical (e.g., irradiation, pasteurization, pulsed electric field, and high-pressure processing) and chemical (e.g., using peroxyacetic acid; chlorine dioxide; sodium hypochlorite; and organic acids, such as acetic, lactic, and citric) methods have been widely used. Although the methods are quite effective, they are not applicable to all foods and carry intrinsic disadvantages (alteration of sensory properties, toxicity, etc.). Therefore, the development of safe and effective alternative methods has gained increased attention recently. Biocontrol agents, including bacteriophages, probiotics, antagonistic bacteria, plant-derived natural compounds, bacteriocins, endolysins, and enzymes, are rapidly emerging as effective, selective, relatively safe for human consumption, and environmentally friendly alternatives. This paper summarizes advances in the application of biocontrol agents for E. coli O157:H7 control in foods.

Use of encapsulated bacteriophages to enhance farm to fork food safety

Bacteriophages have been successfully applied to control the growth of pathogens in foods and to reduce the colonization and shedding of pathogens by food animals. They are set to play a dominant role in food safety in the future. However, many food-processing operations and the microenvironments in food animals' guts inactivate phages and reduce their infectivity. Encapsulation technologies have been used successfully to protect phages against extreme environments, and have been shown to preserve their activity and enable their release in targeted environments. A number of encapsulation technologies have shown potential for use with bacteriophages. This review discusses the current state of knowledge about the use of encapsulation technologies with bacteriophages to control pathogens in foods and food animals.

Inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 using ultraviolet light-treated bacteriophages

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes serious foodborne infections warranting the development of effective control measures. One control option is to use bacteriophages (phages), which are regarded as safe to humans and an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical antimicrobials. One of the few remaining safety concerns is the potential for phages to facilitate genetic exchange between bacteria so resulting in undesirable mobilisation of genes. UV treatment of phages causes a rapid loss in their ability to replicate, while maintaining their antibacterial activity, and so the use of UV-treated phages could be an alternative to the use of viable phages. Data presented here show the inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 by UV-treated phages in milk and on the surface of raw and cooked meat. A minimum concentration of approximately 10(5) PFU cm(-2) (pre-UV treatment titre) of UV-treated phages was required before inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 on the surface of meat was measurable, and 1-2 log10 CFU cm(-2) reductions were typically obtained at concentrations of around 10(7) UV-treated phages cm(-2) (pre-UV treatment titre). Inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 by UV-treated phages was less than that for untreated phages. The production of UV-treated phages was not optimised and it is possible that better reductions in pathogen concentration could be achieved for the same input UV-treated phages concentrations.

Prevention of bacterial foodborne disease using nanobiotechnology

Foodborne disease is an important source of expense, morbidity, and mortality for society. Detection and control constitute significant components of the overall management of foodborne bacterial pathogens, and this review focuses on the use of nanosized biological entities and molecules to achieve these goals. There is an emphasis on the use of organisms called bacteriophages (phages: viruses that infect bacteria), which are increasingly being used in pathogen detection and biocontrol applications. Detection of pathogens in foods by conventional techniques is time-consuming and expensive, although it can also be sensitive and accurate. Nanobiotechnology is being used to decrease detection times and cost through the development of biosensors, exploiting specific cell-recognition properties of antibodies and phage proteins. Although sensitivity per test can be excellent (eg, the detection of one cell), the very small volumes tested mean that sensitivity per sample is less compelling. An ideal detection method needs to be inexpensive, sensitive, and accurate, but no approach yet achieves all three. For nanobiotechnology to displace existing methods (culture-based, antibody-based rapid methods, or those that detect amplified nucleic acid) it will need to focus on improving sensitivity. Although manufactured nonbiological nanoparticles have been used to kill bacterial cells, nanosized organisms called phages are increasingly finding favor in food safety applications. Phages are amenable to protein and nucleic acid labeling, and can be very specific, and the typical large "burst size" resulting from phage amplification can be harnessed to produce a rapid increase in signal to facilitate detection. There are now several commercially available phages for pathogen control, and many reports in the literature demonstrate efficacy against a number of foodborne pathogens on diverse foods. As a method for control of pathogens, nanobiotechnology is therefore flourishing.

Phage therapy: eco-physiological pharmacology

Bacterial virus use as antibacterial agents, in the guise of what is commonly known as phage therapy, is an inherently physiological, ecological, and also pharmacological process. Physiologically we can consider metabolic properties of phage infections of bacteria and variation in those properties as a function of preexisting bacterial states. In addition, there are patient responses to pathogenesis, patient responses to phage infections of pathogens, and also patient responses to phage virions alone. Ecologically, we can consider phage propagation, densities, distribution (within bodies), impact on body-associated microbiota (as ecological communities), and modification of the functioning of body "ecosystems" more generally. These ecological and physiological components in many ways represent different perspectives on otherwise equivalent phenomena. Comparable to drugs, one also can view phages during phage therapy in pharmacological terms. The relatively unique status of phages within the context of phage therapy as essentially replicating antimicrobials can therefore result in a confluence of perspectives, many of which can be useful towards gaining a better mechanistic appreciation of phage therapy, as I consider here. Pharmacology more generally may be viewed as a discipline that lies at an interface between organism-associated phenomena, as considered by physiology, and environmental interactions as considered by ecology.

Bacteriophages for detection and control of bacterial pathogens in food and food-processing environment

This chapter presents recent advances in bacteriophage research and their application in the area of food safety. Section 1 describes general facts on phage biology that are relevant to their application for control and detection of bacterial pathogens in food and environmental samples. Section 2 summarizes the recently acquired data on application of bacteriophages to control growth of bacterial pathogens and spoilage organisms in food and food-processing environment. Section 3 deals with application of bacteriophages for detection and identification of bacterial pathogens. Advantages of bacteriophage-based methods are presented and their shortcomings are discussed. The chapter is intended for food scientist and food product developers, and people in food inspection and health agencies with the ultimate goal to attract their attention to the new developing technology that has a tremendous potential in providing means for producing wholesome and safe food.

Phage therapy pharmacology: calculating phage dosing

Phage therapy, which can be described as a phage-mediated biocontrol of bacteria (or, simply, biocontrol), is the application of bacterial viruses-also bacteriophages or phages-to reduce densities of nuisance or pathogenic bacteria. Predictive calculations for phage therapy dosing should be useful toward rational development of therapeutic as well as biocontrol products. Here, I consider the theoretical basis of a number of concepts relevant to phage dosing for phage therapy including minimum inhibitory concentration (but also "inundation threshold"), minimum bactericidal concentration (but also "clearance threshold"), decimal reduction time (D value), time until bacterial eradication, threshold bacterial density necessary to support phage population growth ("proliferation threshold"), and bacterial density supporting half-maximal phage population growth rates (K(B)). I also address the concepts of phage killing titers, multiplicity of infection, and phage peak densities. Though many of the presented ideas are not unique to this chapter, I nonetheless provide variations on derivations and resulting formulae, plus as appropriate discuss relative importance. The overriding goal is to present a variety of calculations that are useful toward phage therapy dosing so that they may be found in one location and presented in a manner that allows facile appreciation, comparison, and implementation. The importance of phage density as a key determinant of the phage potential to eradicate bacterial targets is stressed throughout the chapter.