Silk Route to the Acceptance and Re-Implementation of Bacteriophage Therapy-Part II.

This perspective paper follows up on earlier communications on bacteriophage therapy that we wrote as a multidisciplinary and intercontinental expert-panel when we first met at a bacteriophage conference hosted by the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2015. In the context of a society that is confronted with an ever-increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, we build on the previously made recommendations and specifically address how the Nagoya Protocol might impact the further development of bacteriophage therapy. By reviewing a number of recently conducted case studies with bacteriophages involving patients with bacterial infections that could no longer be successfully treated by regular antibiotic therapy, we again stress the urgency and significance of the development of international guidelines and frameworks that might facilitate the legal and effective application of bacteriophage therapy by physicians and the receiving patients.

Bacteriophages as Biological Control Agents of Enteric Bacteria Contaminating Edible Oysters.

Bacterial contamination on seafood resulting from unhygienic food-handling practices causes foodborne diseases and significant revenue losses. Moreover, control measures are complicated by a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Alternative measures such as the phage therapy, therefore, is considered as an environmental and consumer-friendly biological control strategy for controlling such bacterial contamination.