Impact of Bacteriophage-Supplemented Drinking Water on the <i>E. coli</i> Population in the Chicken Gut
Sophie Kittler,
Ruth Mengden,
Imke H. E. Korf,
Anna Bierbrodt,
Johannes Wittmann,
Madeleine Plötz,
Arne Jung,
Tatiana Lehnherr,
Christine Rohde,
Hansjörg Lehnherr,
Günter Klein,
Corinna Kehrenberg
Affiliations
Sophie Kittler
Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
Ruth Mengden
Food Inspection, Animal Welfare and Veterinary Service of the Land of Bremen, Border Control Post Bremerhaven, Senator-Borttscheller-Straße 8, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Imke H. E. Korf
Leibniz Institute DSMZ—German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
Anna Bierbrodt
Institute for Hazardous Materials Research, Waldring 97, 44789 Bochum, Germany
Johannes Wittmann
Leibniz Institute DSMZ—German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
Madeleine Plötz
Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
Arne Jung
Clinic for Poultry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 17, 30559 Hannover, Germany
Tatiana Lehnherr
PTC Phage Technology Center GmbH, Siemensstraße 42, 59199 Bönen, Germany
Christine Rohde
Leibniz Institute DSMZ—German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
Hansjörg Lehnherr
PTC Phage Technology Center GmbH, Siemensstraße 42, 59199 Bönen, Germany
Günter Klein
Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
Corinna Kehrenberg
Institute for Veterinary Food Science, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Frankfurter Straße 92, 35392 Giessen, Germany
Among intestinal coliform microbes in the broiler gut, there are potentially pathogenic Escherichia (E.) coli that can cause avian colibacillosis. The treatment with antibiotics favors the selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria and an alternative to this treatment is urgently required. A chicken model of intestinal colonization with an apathogenic model strain of E. coli was used to test if oral phage application can prevent or reduce the gut colonization of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli variants in two individual experiments. The E. coli strain E28 was used as a model strain, which could be differentiated from other E. coli strains colonizing the broiler gut, and was susceptible to all cocktail phages applied. In the first trial, a mixture of six phages was continuously applied via drinking water. No reduction of the model E. coli strain E28 occurred, but phage replication could be demonstrated. In the second trial, the applied mixture was limited to the four phages, which showed highest efficacy in vitro. E. coli colonization was reduced in this trial, but again, no reduction of the E. coli strain E28 was observed. The results of the trials presented here can improve the understanding of the effect of phages on single strains in the multi-strain microbiota of the chicken gut.