Bacteriophage therapy in bacillary dysentery

An investigation into bacteriophage therapy in bacillary dysentery was carried out in circumstances which permitted of accurate control. 2. The bacteriophage used was of high potency. It was specific for the dysentery organisms isolated. It was recovered from the stools of patients to whom it was administered. 3. No prophylactic action was found to result from a 3-day administration of bacteriophage along the lines recommended by Kliewe and Helmreich. 4. The incidence of dysentery in a community treated with bacteriophage at the first sign of diarrhoea was no different from that in a control community. 5. Neither the severity nor the duration of the attack in the bacteriophage-treated group was dramatically less than in the controls. 6. Dysentery bacilli were recovered from the stools after the bowel had been exposed for as long as 4 days to the action of bacteriophage. 7. It is concluded that bacteriophage fails to exercise in vivo the potent properties which it exhibits in vitro.