Isolation of Escherichia coli bacteriophages from the stool of pediatric diarrhea patients in Bangladesh.

A 3-week coliphage survey was conducted in stool samples from 140 Bangladeshi children hospitalized with severe diarrhea. On the Escherichia coli indicator strain K803, all but one phage isolate had 170-kb genomes and the morphology of T4 phage. In spot tests, the individual T4-like phages infected up to 27 out of 40 diarrhea-associated E.

In vitro and in vivo bacteriolytic activities of Escherichia coli phages: implications for phage therapy.

Four T4-like coliphages with broad host ranges for diarrhea-associated Escherichia coli serotypes were isolated from stool specimens from pediatric diarrhea patients and from environmental water samples. All four phages showed a highly efficient gastrointestinal passage in adult mice when added to drinking water. Viable phages were recovered from the feces in a dose-dependent way.