This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bruttin, A.
Right arrow Articles by Brüssow, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bruttin, A.
Right arrow Articles by Brüssow, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, July 2005, p. 2874-2878, Vol. 49, No. 7
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.7.2874-2878.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Human Volunteers Receiving Escherichia coli Phage T4 Orally: a Safety Test of Phage Therapy

Anne Bruttin and Harald Brüssow*

Nestlé Research Center, Nestec Ltd., Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland

Received 25 November 2004/ Returned for modification 24 January 2005/ Accepted 3 April 2005

Fifteen healthy adult volunteers received in their drinking water a lower Escherichia coli phage T4 dose (103 PFU/ml), a higher phage dose (105 PFU/ml), and placebo. Fecal coliphage was detected in a dose-dependent way in volunteers orally exposed to phage. All volunteers receiving the higher phage dose showed fecal phage 1 day after exposure; this prevalence was only 50% in subjects receiving the lower phage dose. No fecal phage was detectable a week after a 2-day course of oral phage application. Oral phage application did not cause a decrease in total fecal E. coli counts. In addition, no substantial phage T4 replication on the commensal E. coli population was observed. No adverse events related to phage application were reported. Serum transaminase levels remained in the normal range, and neither T4 phage nor T4-specific antibodies were observed in the serum of the subjects at the end of the study. This is, to our knowledge, the first safety test in the recent English literature which has measured the bioavailability of oral phage in humans and is thus a first step to the rational evaluation of phage therapy for diarrheal diseases.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Nestlé Research Center, Nestec Ltd., Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland. Phone: 41 21 785 86 76. Fax: 41 21 785 85 49. E-mail: harald.bruessow{at}rdls.nestle.com.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, July 2005, p. 2874-2878, Vol. 49, No. 7
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.7.2874-2878.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Abuladze, T., Li, M., Menetrez, M. Y., Dean, T., Senecal, A., Sulakvelidze, A. (2008). Bacteriophages Reduce Experimental Contamination of Hard Surfaces, Tomato, Spinach, Broccoli, and Ground Beef by Escherichia coli O157:H7. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6230-6238 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zuber, S., Ngom-Bru, C., Barretto, C., Bruttin, A., Brussow, H., Denou, E. (2007). Genome Analysis of Phage JS98 Defines a Fourth Major Subgroup of T4-Like Phages in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 189: 8206-8214 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»