Bacteriophages and their derivatives for the treatment and control of food-producing animal infections

Nowadays, the world is facing an increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Simultaneously, the banning of some existing antibiotics and the lack of development of new antimicrobials have created an urgent need to find new alternatives against animal infections. Bacteriophages (phages) are naturally occurring predators of bacteria, ubiquitous in the environment, with high host specificity and harmless to animals. For these reasons, phages and their derivatives are being considered valuable antimicrobial alternatives and an opportunity to reduce the current use of antibiotics in agri-food production, increasing animal productivity and providing environmental protection. Furthermore, the possibility of combining phage genetic material with foreign genes encoding peptides of interest has enabled their use as vaccine delivery tools. In this case, besides bacterial infections, they might be used to prevent viral infections. This review explores current data regarding advances on the use of phages and phage-encoded proteins, such as endolysins, exolysins and depolymerases, either for therapeutic or prophylactic applications, in animal husbandry. The use of recombinant phage-derived particles or genetically modified phages, including phage vaccines, will also be reviewed.