«

»

Print this Post

Fish Health Notes – Can we use bacteriophages to kill fish pathogens?

by Rod Getchell

ITHACA, NY – Bacteria-eating viruses have been generating some buzz lately as a growing number of headlines have pointed to them as potential tools to fight the next big war against “superbugs.”

getchell-shThe buzz continued last month when a seminar speaker from Tufts University described her work on a strain of virus that kills the Vibrio bacteria that causes cholera, the disease associated with contaminated water supplies and shellfish.

Viruses that kill bacteria are more properly called bacteriophages, derived from the Greek word phagein, which means “to devour.”  They once were heralded as a potential treatment for diseases such as typhoid fever and cholera, but their promise was forgotten with the development of penicillin…

Read the rest and much, much more in Issue 6, 2013 of Fish Farming News.  Download access instructions so that you can read the online flipbook AND download a pdf copy for future reference.

Flipbook Screenshot

Flipbook Screenshot

Permanent link to this article: http://fish-news.com/ffn/fish-health-notes-can-we-use-bacteriophages-to-kill-fish-pathogens/

LoadingUpdating...