Bacteriophages PROS (Advantages)
Phage therapy has a lot of advantages more than antibiotics [39]. First of all, phages have a broad antibacterial activity even against antibiotic resistance bacteria [124, 125, 126] like MRSA as phage can be used as sanitizing agent against hospital acquired infections like MRSA [86]. Also a phage (pVp-1) was able to overcome the resistant strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in experimentally infected mice [127]. Phages can lyse bacteria in the supurrative wounds, mucous membrane and biofilm which are antibiotics resistant [128-132]. Only one dose of anti-K1 polysaccharide capsule phage was as effective as numerous injections of streptomycin in treating a highly virulent lethal dose of E. coli strain having …show more content…
Although that, this problem can also be solved by using of cocktails phage alone or in conjunction with antibiotics [13, 42].
Bacteriophages CONS (Disadvantages)
Despite all the advantages mentioned before, phages have some disadvantage. Indeed, the master disadvantage of phage therapy is its high specificity which may lead to the treatment failure in case of mixed infections [137] but this problem can be overcome by phage cocktails.
Moreover, bacteria can develop resistance against phage due to bacterial modification or masking of bacterial receptors or the use of quorum sensing which allows the bacteria to improve their defense mechanisms against phages [147, 139, 6] but this may be solved also by phage cocktails because it is implausible of the bacteria to develop resistance to a collective group of phages [148-150].
Moreover, it is indistinct how the phages would be effective in treating intracellular pathogens (e.g., Salmonella species) in which the bacteria multiplied inside human or animal cells and cannot reach to phages; although that, phages have been noticed to be effective in treating salmonellosis in children
Phage therapy has a lot of advantages more than antibiotics [39]. First of all, phages have a broad antibacterial activity even against antibiotic resistance bacteria [124, 125, 126] like MRSA as phage can be used as sanitizing agent against hospital acquired infections like MRSA [86]. Also a phage (pVp-1) was able to overcome the resistant strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in experimentally infected mice [127]. Phages can lyse bacteria in the supurrative wounds, mucous membrane and biofilm which are antibiotics resistant [128-132]. Only one dose of anti-K1 polysaccharide capsule phage was as effective as numerous injections of streptomycin in treating a highly virulent lethal dose of E. coli strain having …show more content…
Although that, this problem can also be solved by using of cocktails phage alone or in conjunction with antibiotics [13, 42].
Bacteriophages CONS (Disadvantages)
Despite all the advantages mentioned before, phages have some disadvantage. Indeed, the master disadvantage of phage therapy is its high specificity which may lead to the treatment failure in case of mixed infections [137] but this problem can be overcome by phage cocktails.
Moreover, bacteria can develop resistance against phage due to bacterial modification or masking of bacterial receptors or the use of quorum sensing which allows the bacteria to improve their defense mechanisms against phages [147, 139, 6] but this may be solved also by phage cocktails because it is implausible of the bacteria to develop resistance to a collective group of phages [148-150].
Moreover, it is indistinct how the phages would be effective in treating intracellular pathogens (e.g., Salmonella species) in which the bacteria multiplied inside human or animal cells and cannot reach to phages; although that, phages have been noticed to be effective in treating salmonellosis in children