XVI Premio "Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Veterinarios de Madrid". Aislamiento y caraterización de diferentes bacteriófagos frente a aislados Escherichia Coli de origen porcino

Abstract

Among the existing alternative strategies to the use of antibiotics for the control of infectious diseases of great importance in swine, such as colibacillosis, the use of bacteriophages stands out. In the present study we have tried to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophages active against field isolates of Escherichia coli of swine origin. In addition, the ability to obtain new phages in vitro with a wider host range from a cocktail of previously purified and characterized phages and through a protocol that allows multiple recombination events between these phages has been evaluated. Among the results obtained, it is worth noting that of the 16 samples of pig slurry and feces initially included in the study, 4 phages only preserved their lytic activity during the successive rounds of purification and proliferation. Despite presenting a wide host range, the study of the plating efficiency (EOP) showed that the isolated phages required a high phage titer to present lytic activity. Finally, using the previously described Appelmans protocol, we were able to obtain in vitro phages with significant lytic activity against initially non-susceptible E. coli isolates. Although further studies are needed to deeply characterize the phages obtained, our study highlights the potential use of phages in the control of porcine colibacillosis.