Poultry’s antibiotic alternative

GIVEN THE HIGH risk posed by poultry contaminants, both in terms of economic loses and the threat to public health, scientists have begun to rekindle their interest in finessing bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents to offset the associated risks. The primary contaminants in poultry consist of Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. With the widespread nature of the bacteria as well as the increasing prevalence of the pathogens becoming resistant to the majority of conventional antibiotics, something had to be done to counteract the damages caused.

Bacteriophage treatments have the potential to be used as an alternative method to antibiotics as they only target the specific bacterial pathogen within the infected animal. However, a tailor-made cocktail of multiple bacteriophages could go a long way in broadening the antibacterial activity. Under industrial conditions, bacteriophages can also be used as food-safe disinfectants to reduce contaminations. Despite their advantages, these types of practices are yet to be developed for widespread use as there have been reports of problems with resistance, safety, specificity, and long-term stability which all must be addressed before the practice becomes mainstream.

Antibiotic aversion

Antibiotic treatment is beneficial and works thoroughly when applied in small doses and only when it is deemed absolutely necessary. Once repeated doses are brought into the equation, that is when resistance begins to build and the treatment becomes defunct.

The situation is growing into a severe public health case as the proportion of resistant bacteria in poultry is increasing due to the excessive amounts of antibiotics being administered.

Bacteriophage usage

Biotechnology company, Intralytix, has created the SalmoFresh antimicrobial treatment, where bacteriophages are the active ingredient, for treating foods that are at high risk from salmonella contamination. The pharmaceutical biotechnology company, Micreos, has also created the PhaseGuard treatment, a product that can be sprayed directly onto food in order to kill listeria, salmonella and E. coli.

However, even as the biotech industry starts to mainstream bacteriophage usage as an antibiotic replacement, there are still limitations holding the industry back from fully integrating the practices into widespread use. Bacteriophage resistance is critical to overcome before the treatment can be used as an antibiotic replacement. More so, one of the most significant limitations is the regulatory status of bacteriophage products. ■