Phage-based cleansing of Bacillus anthracis spores from sterie sole

Development of antibiotics-resistant bacteria in recent years has brought to a renewed interest in bacteriophages and their properties. This study attempted to develop a new application for bacteriophages. Bacillus anthracis is the bacterium that causes anthrax. The bacteria produce spores which protects the bacteria from extreme conditions that will hurt the bacteria. This property makes it very difficult to remove the bacteria’s spores from surfaces. In the study we performed, we assessed whether bacteriophages can be used to cleanse bacterial spores from soil. To this end, we used four different bacteriophages who were proved to be effective against the bacteria in different combinations, to determine which best decontaminate the surface. The results demonstrate that the combination including all four bacteriophages was most effectively decontaminated the soil from bacteria, but was not perfect and will therefore require subsequent experiments in order to determine if this method could be used in the next biological attack that includes the bacteria.