Phage therapy to combat antibiotic resistance in aquaculture

Recently, antimicrobial resistance has become a major public health concern as it threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by pathogens particularly bacteria. Phage therapy, the use of bacteriophages to target and destroy specific bacterial pathogens, has emerged as a promising alternative to antibiotics in aquaculture especially for combating antibiotic-resistant strains. This approach offers a targeted approach by employing naturally occurring bacteriophages that specifically infect and lyse bacterial pathogens without disrupting beneficial microflora. Recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of phage therapy in reducing bacterial infections such as Vibrio and Aeromonas in various aquaculture environments. This abstract highlights the advantages of phage therapy in addressing antibiotic resistance in aquaculture, outlines the steps for its implementation and discusses the associated challenges.