Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals
Open Access
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
Najat Marraiki
Accepted Abstracts: J Antivir Antiretrovir
Campylobacter jejuni is commonly found in animal faeces and accounts for a largepercentage of acute bacterial enteritis cases reported in the United Kingdom and in the majority of the developed world. Once widespread, infection is difficult to prevent. Bacteriophages pose as natural enemies of bacteria, therefore phage therapy is one of the possible means to combat the colonisation C. jejuni and limit its entry into the human food chain. The study sought to investigate the use of phage therapy in the biocontrol of C. jejuni found on shrimps using a cocktail of phages extracted from local fish water tanks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Different phage concentrations were used ranging from 10-5 to 10-10 PFU/ml. The phage cocktail was applied to samples of shrimps obtained from the local fish market at 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 hours after contamination. The samples were then stored at a temperature of 4oC for 7 days in the refrigerator. The phage cocktail was found to reduce bacterial pathogen population in all of the 0.5, 1, and 1.5 hours from application. However, the cocktail was found to significantly reduce pathogen populations when applied in higher concentrations and shortly after the induced contamination. A concentration of 10-10 PFU/ml reduced pathogen populations to non-detectable levels within 3 days of storage when applied 0.5 hours after contamination. The study concluded that high phage concentrations of at least 10-7 PFU/ml were needed to achieve a significant reduction in the population size of C. jejuni and when applied up to 1 hour after contamination.