Bacteriophage JSF4 can be a Potential Prophylaxis Therapy for Cholera: An Alternative Approach to Antibiotics

Abstract

Cholera remains a major risk in developing countries like Bangladesh, particularly after natural or man-made disasters and becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Effective prevention strategies will be essential in reducing the disease burden of these bacterial infections. Here, we used the specificity and rapid-acting properties of bacteriophages as a potential prophylaxis therapy for cholera, a severely dehydrating disease caused by Vibrio cholerae 01 or 0139 serogroup. In this study, a single bacteriophage, JSF4 specific for V. cholerae 01 serogroup, was used to reduce the severity of cholera therapeutically in the infant mice model. Bacterial counts were decreased up to 106 times in the intestines of bacteriophage-treated animals and increased up to 24 times in the untreated control mice intestines. This is the first report that a single bacteriophage JSF4 might be useful to treat cholera caused by V. cholerae 01 serogroup strains and could be an alternative to antibiotics. In the future, JSF4 bacteriophages may also have profound implications in phage therapy for controlling cholera caused by pathogenic V. cholerae 01 serogroup strains.