Advances in Bacteriophage Research for Bacterial Disease Control in Aquaculture

Abstract

Aquaculture sector suffers huge economic losses owing to frequent development of diseases caused essentially by bacterial and viral infections. Antibiotics were considered as effective therapeutic agents to control the bacterial diseases, however, due to problems associated with its frequent use, several antibiotics are banned and restricted in many countries. In such a scenario, the role of bacteriophage therapy, which is efficient, eco-friendly and a scientifically demonstrable solution to control antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, comes into play. Several bacteriophage have been isolated specific to various pathogenic bacteria, viz. Edwardsiella tarda, Edwardsiella ictaluri, Lactococcus garvieae, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida, Streptococcus iniae, Flavobacterium columnare, Flavobacterium psychrophilum, Aeromonas salmonicida, Aeromonas hydrophila, Vibrio anguillarum, Vibrio harveyi, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and their potential to be used as a therapeutic agent has been studied by several researchers. This review highlights the potential, strategy, mode of application, dosing, advantages, and limitations of bacteriophage therapy in aquaculture and its way forward.