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Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study

Increased antimicrobial resistance highlights the need for alternatives to antibiotics. Bacteriophages, which are benign viruses that kill bacteria, are promising. We studied the efficacy of topical bacteriophages for treating equine staphylococcal superficial pyodermas. Eight Staphylococcus aureus...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Marshall, Kalie, Marsella, Rosanna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10304242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37375518
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12060828
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author Marshall, Kalie
Marsella, Rosanna
author_facet Marshall, Kalie
Marsella, Rosanna
author_sort Marshall, Kalie
collection PubMed
description Increased antimicrobial resistance highlights the need for alternatives to antibiotics. Bacteriophages, which are benign viruses that kill bacteria, are promising. We studied the efficacy of topical bacteriophages for treating equine staphylococcal superficial pyodermas. Eight Staphylococcus aureus isolates were tested against a bacteriophage bank, and a cocktail consisting of two bacteriophages was prepared. Twenty horses with clinical and cytological evidence of superficial pyoderma and confirmed S. aureus infection based on swabbed culture were enrolled in the study. Each horse received both the bacteriophage cocktail and the placebo at two different infection sites, once daily for four weeks. Clinical lesions and cytology were evaluated weekly by an investigator who was unaware of the treatment sites. All infection sites were swabbed and cultured at the end of the study. A linear mixed model showed no significant differences between the placebo and treatment sites in terms of clinical signs, cytological scores of inflammation, and bacterial counts at the end of the study. It is possible that the bacteriophage cocktail killed S. aureus, but cytology scores did not change as new populations of cocci took over. The study limitations included a small sample size and inconsistent control of the underlying causes of pyodermas.
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spelling pubmed-103042422023-06-29 Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study Marshall, Kalie Marsella, Rosanna Pathogens Article Increased antimicrobial resistance highlights the need for alternatives to antibiotics. Bacteriophages, which are benign viruses that kill bacteria, are promising. We studied the efficacy of topical bacteriophages for treating equine staphylococcal superficial pyodermas. Eight Staphylococcus aureus isolates were tested against a bacteriophage bank, and a cocktail consisting of two bacteriophages was prepared. Twenty horses with clinical and cytological evidence of superficial pyoderma and confirmed S. aureus infection based on swabbed culture were enrolled in the study. Each horse received both the bacteriophage cocktail and the placebo at two different infection sites, once daily for four weeks. Clinical lesions and cytology were evaluated weekly by an investigator who was unaware of the treatment sites. All infection sites were swabbed and cultured at the end of the study. A linear mixed model showed no significant differences between the placebo and treatment sites in terms of clinical signs, cytological scores of inflammation, and bacterial counts at the end of the study. It is possible that the bacteriophage cocktail killed S. aureus, but cytology scores did not change as new populations of cocci took over. The study limitations included a small sample size and inconsistent control of the underlying causes of pyodermas. MDPI 2023-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10304242/ /pubmed/37375518 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12060828 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Marshall, Kalie
Marsella, Rosanna
Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title_full Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title_fullStr Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title_full_unstemmed Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title_short Topical Bacteriophage Therapy for Staphylococcal Superficial Pyoderma in Horses: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study
title_sort topical bacteriophage therapy for staphylococcal superficial pyoderma in horses: a double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10304242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37375518
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12060828
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