Phage Therapy an alternate disease control in Aquaculture: A review on recent advancements

Nearly one-third of the world’s seafood supplies come from aquaculture industry, representing the fastest growing agricultural sector. Sustainable aquaculture production is crucial to meet the future demands for seafood globally. However, one of the biggest threats it faces is infectious bacterial disease, which effect livelihoods of communities causing heavy financial and production loses and a subsequent decrease in food availability. Whilst fish vaccinology has shown remarkable developments in recent years, and major improvements have been made in good management practices, the emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria has become a global problem. With an increasing trend of multiple drug resistance (MDR), chemical residues, and tightening of regulations surrounding the use of chemotherapeutics, bacteriophage may provide a natural, sustainable solution to successfully address this need. Phage therapy may represent a viable alternative to antibiotics to inactivate bacteria, the main pathogenic agents in the aquaculture industry. Virulent phages are natural, sustainable antimicrobials that are nontoxic and, when correctly selected and prepared, do not pose any risk to plant, animal or the environment. Its use, however, requires the awareness of novel kinetics phenomena not applied to conventional drug treatments. This current work is a detailed review of the pros and cons of phage therapy.