Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Lytic Phages

Abstract

The ability of lytic phages to rapidly kill and lyse infected bacteria, the specificity of phages for particular bacteria, and the ability of phages to increase in number during the infection process make phages excellent potential diagnostic and therapeutic agents for fighting bacterial disease. However, temperate phages are of little use in phage diagnostics and therapy.

Keywords:

• Lytic phages
• Phages
• Diagnosis
• Therapy
• Bacteria
• Reporter genes
• Luciferase