Use of Predatory Bacteria to Control Select Pathogens and Treat Respiratory Infections.

摘要

Disease-causing microorganisms that have become resistant to drug therapy are an increasing cause of life threatening infections, with many traditional antimicrobial agents becoming ineffective. An additional potential threat is the use of biological agents and genetically modified pathogens against military personnel during combat operations or against a civilian population. Our main hypothesis is that predatory bacteria are able to serve as a novel therapeutic agent in controlling intractable bacterial infections. By co-culturing Select Agents in the presence of predator bacteria, we have confirmed that Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus are able to prey on Yersinia pestis, Burkholderia mallei and Francisella tularensis. However, no measurable predation was observed when Burkholderia pseudomallei and Brucella melitensis were used as host. In order to measure the in-vivo effect of exposure to predatory bacteria, a respiratory and systemic mouse infection model was used. No reduction in mouse viability was seen after intranasal or intravenous inoculation of high doses of predatory bacteria. Furthermore, introducing predatory bacteria into healthy mice did not provoke a sustainable inflammatory response post-exposure.