Bacteriophage biocontrol in wastewater treatment

Abstract

Waterborne bacterial pathogens in wastewater remains an important public health concern, not only because of the environmental damage, morbidity and mortality that they cause, but also due to the high cost of disinfecting wastewater by using physical and chemical methods in treatment plants. Bacteriophages are proposed as bacterial pathogen indicators and as an alternative biological method for wastewater treatment. Phage biocontrol in large scale treatment requires adaptive and aggressive phages that are able to overcome the environmental forces that interfere with phage-host interactions while targeting unwanted bacterial pathogens and preventing biofilms and foaming. This review will shed light on aspects of using bacteriophage programming technology in wastewater plants to rapidly target and reduce undesirable bacteria without harming the useful bacteria needed for biodegradation.

Bioaugmentation for the treatment of waterborne pathogen contamination water

“…In current scenario, broad-spectrum antibiotics are used for killing pathogenic bacteria, in different sectors such as health, agriculture, and waste treatment, etc. (Jassim et al, 2016). The action of these broad-spectrum antibiotics is not specific; they kill other nonpathogenic bacterial populations and their repeated application develops antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains.…”

“…As a consequence of this, many bacterial infections and surgeries become more dangerous because of the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, phages emerge as a potential biocontrol agent against many multidrug-resistant strains of bacteria (Jassim et al, 2016;Mulani et al, 2015).…”

“…Phages have many features that make them a suitable biocontrol agent. These consist of their effectiveness in killing their target bacteria, specificity, adaptivity, ability to survive in harsh environmental conditions, and the fact that they are self-replicating and self-limiting (Jassim et al, 2016).…”

“…Introduction of microbial metabolites is also a related approach for the treatment of complex interlinked network of bacterial species in biofilms. This method depends upon antagonism for substrate that can change the equilibrium of species in the biofilm (Jassim et al, 2016).…”

Bacteriophages: Practical Applications for Nature's Biocontrol

“…Recent reports have revealed that 70% of the world's bacteria have now developed a resistance to antibiotics, including those drugs regarded as our last line of defence which were carelessly sprayed over fields and livestock and have now polluted waterways Jassim et al 2016). As a consequence of this, many common infections will no longer have a cure and hospital surgeries are more dangerous due to the spread of hospital acquired bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics.…”