Bacteriophage Treatment
Decontaminates Infant Formula
Decontaminates Infant Formula
American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC -– October
23, 2015 -- A phage showed strong anti-microbial activity against a type of
food-borne bacterium that often kills infants after infecting them via infant
formula. Phages are viruses that infect only bacteria. The research is
published October 23 online in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a
journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
In the study, the
phage, called “CR5,” showed high antimicrobial activity against the bacterium,
Cronobacter sakazakii, as well as against several other species of Cronobacter,
which can also cause dangerous illness, said coauthor Sangryeol Ryu, professor
in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Research Institute of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul
National University , Korea
The research was
conducted using infant formula that had been contaminated with C. sakazakii.
“Interestingly, CR5 killed C. sakazakii quickly, and no C. sakazakii was
detected in the infant formula after 10 hours had passed,” said Ryu.
Ryu said that the
phage is safe for humans, noting that his analysis of its genome revealed
neither toxin gene nor virulence factor. In 2006, the US Food and Drug
Administration approved the use of bacteriophages as biocontrol agents in
foods. But the agency does not allow the use of antibiotics in infant formula.
Bacteriophages are
abundant in the environment, which means they are ecologically friendly, said
Ryu. “They infect and kill only bacteria, which means they could be used as
novel biocontrol agents and even as natural food preservatives,” he added,
noting that other food-borne pathogens could also be controlled, by other types
of phages.
Cronobacter, the target bacterial genus of the phage, CR5,
is a family of closely related species that cause illness in people of all
ages. While infection is rare in the US
“Heretofore, C. sakazakii-contaminated infant formula has
been considered an unsolved problem because antibiotics cannot be used,” said
Ryu, adding that C. sakazakii has been known to have multiple antibiotic
resistance genes. “In this study, we proved that C. sakazakii-phage CR5 is an
efficient biocontrol agent in infant formula. Therefore, this bacteriophage
treatment is a promising approach to solve this problem.”
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