Limits on the use and efficacy of various antibiotics coupled with negative consumer perception of the practice have together spurred substantial research into compounds that could reduce the use antibiotics to control bacterial diseases in pigs. Bacteriophages are often among such potential compounds, and various groups have examined the efficacy of bacteriophages or bacteriophage products in limiting transmission or colonization of targeted bacteria. The study presented here provides a systematic review of such studies followed by a meta-analysis of aggregated data produced by each study. The data set was limited to inputs (n = 19; 576 total observations) from studies where: 1) live pigs were inoculated with a known quantity of challenge bacteria; 2) challenged animals were treated with a known quantity of phages; 3) concentrations of the challenge bacteria were measured in different tissues/fluids following phage treatment; and 4) SD (or SE to allow calculation of SD) was reported. Concentrations of challenge bacteria were significantly lower in phage-treated pigs versus challenged but untreated pigs (P < 0.0001; effect size = −1.06 1log10 colony-forming units [CFU]/g). The effect size of phage treatment was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in samples collected 48 to 96 h following phage treatment versus those collected ≤ 24 h following phage treatment. Likewise, effect size of phage treatment was significantly greater in piglets versus market-weight pigs. Across observations, phage treatment effect sizes were greatest (P < 0.01) in fecal samples versus ileal or cecal samples. Taken together, these data indicate that phage treatment can significantly reduce the concentrations of targeted bacteria in pigs; scenarios exist, however, where phage treatment could predictably be more or less effective.

中文翻译：

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噬菌体疗法在猪中的疗效：系统评价和荟萃分析

各种抗生素的使用和功效受到限制，加上消费者对这种做法的负面看法，共同激发了对可以减少使用抗生素来控制猪细菌性疾病的化合物的大量研究。噬菌体通常是此类潜在化合物之一，并且各个小组已经检查了噬菌体或噬菌体产物在限制目标细菌的传播或定植方面的功效。此处介绍的研究对此类研究进行了系统评价，然后对每项研究产生的汇总数据进行了荟萃分析。数据集仅限于来自以下研究的输入（n = 19；总共 576 个观察结果）：1）活猪接种了已知数量的攻击细菌；2) 用已知数量的噬菌体处理受攻击的动物；3) 在噬菌体处理后测量不同组织/流体中的攻击细菌浓度；4) 报告 SD（或 SE 以允许计算 SD）。与攻击但未处理的猪相比，噬菌体处理的猪的攻击细菌浓度显着降低（P < 0.0001；效应大小 = -1.06 1log10 菌落形成单位 [CFU]/g）。在噬菌体处理后 48 至 96 小时收集的样本与噬菌体处理后≤24 小时收集的样本相比，噬菌体处理的效果显着更大（P < 0.05）。同样，与上市体重的猪相比，小猪的噬菌体治疗效果显着更大。在观察结果中，与回肠或盲肠样品相比，粪便样品中的噬菌体处理效果大小最大（P < 0.01）。综合起来，这些数据表明，噬菌体处理可以显着降低猪体内目标细菌的浓度；然而，存在噬菌体治疗或多或少有效的情况。