Bacteriophage: Therapeutic Uses

David R Harper, Biocontrol Ltd., London, UK
Elizabeth Kutter, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, USA

Published online: December 2008

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020000

Bacteriophages are viruses that grow within bacteria, often killing the bacterial host in order to release the next generation of bacteriophages. Since their discovery in 1915, they have been identified as having potential for the control of bacterial disease. Following the widespread appearance of resistance to conventional antibiotics, interest in this area has revived and clinical trials of bacteriophage therapeutics are now under way.

Keywords: bacteriophage; phage; antibiotic resistance; bacterial disease; therapy

Figure 1. A tailed bacteriophage attached to its host cell. From Brown, JC (2003) Virology. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Chichester: Wiley (http://www.els.net/, doi:10.1038/npg.els.0000435). Reproduced by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Figure 2. Drawing of a tailed bacteriophage. Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tevenphage.png. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Licence.
Figure 3. Bacteriophage lysis of the host cell. From Brown, JC (2003) Virology. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Chichester: Wiley (http://www.els.net/, doi:10.1038/npg.els.0000435). Reproduced by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Figure 4. Lytic cycle and lysogenic cycle. Copyright of Biocontrol Ltd.
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    Barrow PA and Soothill JS (1997) Bacteriophage therapy and prophylaxis: rediscovery and renewed assessment of the potential. Trends in Microbiology 5: 268–271.
    book Kutter E and Sulakvelidze A (2004) Bacteriophage: Biology and Applications. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

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Viruses Infecting Bacteria
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Article Title: Bacteriophage: Therapeutic Uses
 
How to Cite close
Harper, David R, and Kutter, Elizabeth(Dec 2008) Bacteriophage: Therapeutic Uses. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020000]