Bacteriophages and probiotics can be efficient sanitizing agents.

What is it about?

The so-called hospital-acquired infections are often transmitted by microbes contaminating hospital surfaces, which are also often resistant to drugs, consequently causing infections very hard to treat, responsible of millions deaths in western world. Unfortunately, conventional chemicals-based cleaning is not efficient in eliminating in a stable way such pathogenic microbes, indeed promoting their resistance to disinfectants and drugs. In the attempt to find a method capable of fighting such pathogens, we recently studied a biological approach based on the use of beneficial bacteria, showing that they can abate pathogens without inducing drug-resistances. However, probiotics action is not rapid, nor specific. By contrast, bacteriophages are able to kill specific bacteria very rapidly, but their action is limited in time. Consequently, based on the properties of probiotics and bacteriophages, we wanted to test their combined use as a potential system for eliminating in a stable way the bacteria mainly responsible for hospital infections, with particular attention to drug-resistant ones. Collected results, obtained using an eco-friendly cleanser additioned with bacteriophages and probiotics, showed that this biological approach is effective in stably eliminating surface pathogens, as it combines the rapid and specific action of bacteriophages with the stabilizing and general action of probiotics. This approach open new perspectives in the management of infection control in the hospital environment.

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Why is it important?

The use of eco-friendly cleansers additioned with bacteriophages and probiotics can be an efficient biological approach to fight infections and antibiotic resistance.

Perspectives