Bacteriophage therapy revisited

Phage therapy is a natural process of treating the bacterial infections of animals, plants and humans and it was used before the discovery and widespread use of antibiotics. Even now this technology is widely used to increase the shelf life of fruits, vegetables, meat and harvested plants. In this mini review paper, we briefly describe the natural occurrence of bacteriophages; their discovery, history, emergence of phage therapy in the light of antibiotic resistance and their advantages over the traditional antibiotics. Preclinical studies of phage therapy in experimental animals/plants and its applications on the infectious diseases; wound infections emerged by the antibiotic resistant bacteria. Bacteriophage was first discovered by Ernest Hankin in 1896 from the water of Jumna river containing antibacterial substances which limited the spread of Cholera epidemics. In the initial stage of phage therapy, there were problems with the technology and now all these problems have been resolved by the advancement of science and technology. Now based on recent experience and results of bacteriophage applications against bacterial infections, this innovative technology for the treatment of various antibiotic resistant infections is successful.