Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. As such, they have many potential uses for promoting health and combating disease. This book covers the many facets of phage-bacterial-human interaction in three sections: the role and impact of phages on natural bacterial communities, the potential to develop phage-based therapeutics and other aspects in which phages can be used to combat disease, including bacterial detection, bacterial epidemiology, the tracing of fecal contamination of water and decontamination of foods.

1. Phages

Section 1: Phages, Bacterial Disease, and Normal Flora

2. Bacteriophages as Part of the Human Microbiome
3. Diseases Caused by Phages
4. Prophage-Induced Changes in Cellular Cytochemistry and Virulence
5. The Lion and the Mouse: How Bacteriophages Create, Liberate, and Decimate Bacterial Pathogens
6. Phages and Bacterial Epidemiology

Section 2: Phage-Based Biomedical Technology

7. Phages as Therapeutic Delivery Vehicles
8. Clinical Applications of Phage Display
9. Phages and Their Hosts: A Web of Interactions - Applications to Drug Design
10. Bacteriophage-Based Methods of Bacterial Detection and Identification
11. Phage Detection as Indication of Fecal Contamination

Section 3: Phage-Based Antibacterial Strategies

12. Phage Translocation, Safety, and Immunomodulation
13. Phage Therapy of Wounds and Related Purulent Infections
14. Phage Therapy of Non-Wound Infections
15. Phage-Based Enzybiotics
16. Role of Phages in Control of Bacterial Pathogens in Food
17. Phage Therapy Best Practices