This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Abuladze, T. Articles by Sulakvelidze, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Abuladze, T. Articles by Sulakvelidze, A. Agricola Articles by Abuladze, T. Articles by Sulakvelidze, A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 6230-6238, Vol. 74, No. 20
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01465-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacteriophages Reduce Experimental Contamination of Hard Surfaces, Tomato, Spinach, Broccoli, and Ground Beef by Escherichia coli O157:H7

Tamar Abuladze,^1, Manrong Li,^1, Marc Y. Menetrez,² Timothy Dean,² Andre Senecal,³ and Alexander Sulakvelidze^1*

Intralytix, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland 21202,¹ United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711,² United States Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center, Combat Feeding Directorate, Natick, Massachusetts 01760³

Received 30 June 2008/ Accepted 18 August 2008

A bacteriophage cocktail (designated ECP-100) containing three Myoviridae phages lytic for Escherichia coli O157:H7 was examined for its ability to reduce experimental contamination of hard surfaces (glass coverslips and gypsum boards), tomato, spinach, broccoli, and ground beef by three virulent strains of the bacterium. The hard surfaces and foods contaminated by a mixture of three E. coli O157:H7 strains were treated with ECP-100 (test samples) or sterile phosphate-buffered saline buffer (control samples), and the efficacy of phage treatment was evaluated by comparing the number of viable E. coli organisms recovered from the test and control samples. Treatments (5 min) with the ECP-100 preparation containing three different concentrations of phages (10¹⁰, 10⁹, and 10⁸ PFU/ml) resulted in statistically significant reductions (P = <0.05) of 99.99%, 98%, and 94%, respectively, in the number of E. coli O157:H7 organisms recovered from the glass coverslips. Similar treatments resulted in reductions of 100%, 95%, and 85%, respectively, in the number of E. coli O157:H7 organisms recovered from the gypsum board surfaces; the reductions caused by the two most concentrated phage preparations were statistically significant. Treatment with the least concentrated preparation that elicited significantly less contamination of the hard surfaces (i.e., 10⁹ PFU/ml) also significantly reduced the number of viable E. coli O157:H7 organisms on the four food samples. The observed reductions ranged from 94% (at 120 ± 4 h posttreatment of tomato samples) to 100% (at 24 ± 4 h posttreatment of spinach samples). The data suggest that naturally occurring bacteriophages may be useful for reducing contamination of various hard surfaces, fruits, vegetables, and ground beef by E. coli O157:H7.

---

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Intralytix, Inc., 701 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. Phone: (410) 625-2533. Fax: (410) 625-2506. E-mail: asulakvelidze{at}intralytix.com

Published ahead of print on 22 August 2008.

T.A. and M.L. contributed equally to the work described in this paper.

---

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 6230-6238, Vol. 74, No. 20
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01465-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Guenther, S., Huwyler, D., Richard, S., Loessner, M. J. (2009). Virulent Bacteriophage for Efficient Biocontrol of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 93-100 [Abstract] [Full Text]