Salmonella is a genus of anaerobic, Gram-negative bacteria (facultative anaerobes) of family Enterobacteriaceae, and is a non-endospore-forming bacillus having peritrichous flagella for mobility. Salmonella is a pathogenic microorganism that causes various diseases not only in various livestock but also in humans.
Salmonellosis in humans is mainly caused by ingestion of animal products such as pork and the like. Reports say that several strains of Salmonella have specificity for poultry and thus cause infection in poultry, causing enormous economic damage to poultry farms and consumers, and it is known that Salmonella infected poultry and ingestion of such infected poultry cause food poisoning in humans.
Specifically, according to 2005's statistics of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nine strains of Salmonella, among Salmonella strains isolated from humans suffering from food poisoning caused by Salmonella, match Salmonella strains derived from poultry, and it was confirmed that the most predominant Salmonella strain isolated from humans suffering from food poisoning coincides with the most predominant Salmonella strain isolated from chickens.
Bacteriophage refers to a bacteria-specific virus that infects a specific bacterium and prevents and inhibits growth of the bacterium. As bacteriophages have stronger host specificity than antibiotics and recent emergence of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and residual antibiotics in animals become serious, application of bacteriophages has attracted great attention.
However, most studies on bacteriophages are focused on controlling Escherichia coli, Listeria, and Chlorstridium. Salmonella is also contagious both in humans and animals, has continued to cause infectious diseases, and is capable of growing in a phagocyte which intakes bacteria, thereby being resistant to antibiotics. Therefore, there is a need for bacteriophages which can effectively control Salmonella, and particularly, there is a need for bacteriophages and development of relevant technologies in order to control Salmonella in poultry to prevent infectious diseases caused by Salmonella in poultry and in order to prevent poultry-mediated food poisoning in humans.