Selçuk University will develop an alternative product due to the increasing resistance to antibiotics used in the treatment of "Escherichia coli" bacteria in animals. Project Coordinator Prof. Dr. Hadimli stated that with the product to be developed, they aim to reduce bacterial infectious diseases and deaths in cattle, sheep and poultry, including newborns.

Project coordinator Prof. Dr. Hasan Hüseyin Hadimli, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Selçuk University, said that the R&D project titled "Isolation of Escherichia coli Bacteriophages from Various Animal Species, Molecular Characterization and Determination of Bacteriophage Activities" from Turkey was entitled to be supported by the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies (TAGEM) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Stating that the project team includes 8 main researchers and master's and doctoral students from Selçuk University, Kırıkkale University, Atatürk University, Konya Veterinary Control Institute, Konya Veterinary Control Institute, Veterinary Control Central Research Institute, Erzurum Veterinary Control Institute and İzmir Bornova Veterinary Control Institute, Hadimli said that "Escherichia coli" bacterium causes serious infectious diseases especially in newborn dairy cows, sheep, goats and poultry and has high mortality rates.

“ESCHERİCHİA COLİ’YE KARŞI BAKTERİYOFAJ ETKİNLİĞİNİ DENEYECEĞİZ”

Hadimli, bakteriyofajın bakteri tüketen virüs anlamına geldiğini belirterek şöyle devam etti: “Ülkemizde Escherichia coli bakterisinden kaynaklı buzağı ölümlerinin, farklı araştırmacıların yaptığı sonuçlara göre son yıllarda yaklaşık yüzde 11 ile 25 arasında değiştiği belirtiliyor. Çok büyük bir rakam. Dolayısıyla literatüre göre bunun yüzde 5 olması gerekiyor. Çalışmamızı, literatürde belirtilen ölüm oranlarına çekebilirsek başarıya ulaşmış olacağız. Bakteriyofaj tedavisi, 1900’lü yıllarda İkinci Dünya Savaşı’na kadar dünyada yaygın olarak kullanılmaktaydı. Antibiyotiğin keşfi, bakteriyofajların ikinci plana atılmasına sebep oldu. Araştırmacılar, antibiyotik dirençliliğin ülkemizde ve dünyada tedavi edici özelliğinin ciddi bir problem oluşturması nedeniyle bakteriyofaj tedaviye tekrar yöneldi. Bakteriyofajın kullanılacak canlılarda herhangi bir yan etkisi bulunmamaktadır. Tümüyle doğa dostudur ve çevreye kirlilik vermemektedir. Üretimi de çok kolaydır. Bugün vaka bazlı problemlerde bile bakteriyofaj tedavisi kullanılmaktadır. Biz bu projede sadece ‘Escherichia coli’ bakterisine karşı bakteriyofaj etkinliğini deneyeceğiz.”

“WE WILL TEST EFFICIENCY OF BACTERIOPHAGE AGAINST ESCHERİCHIA COLI”

Hadimli stated that bacteriophage means a virus that consumes bacteria and continued as follows: “According to the results of different researchers, it is stated that the calf deaths caused by Escherichia coli bacteria in our country have changed between 11 and 25 percent in recent years. It's a huge number. Therefore, according to the literature, it should be 5%. If we can decrease the rate with our study to the mortality rates stated in the literature, we will have achieved success. Bacteriophage therapy was widely used in the world in the 1900s until the Second World War. The discovery of the antibiotic caused bacteriophages to be put in the background. Researchers have turned to bacteriophage treatment again because the therapeutic feature of antibiotic resistance in our country and in the world is a serious problem. Bacteriophage does not have any side effects on the living things to be used. It is completely nature friendly and does not pollute the environment. It is also very easy to manufacture. Today, bacteriophage therapy is used even for case-based problems. In this project, we will only test the bacteriophage efficiency against Escherichia coli bacteria.”

“WE WANT TO AVOID ECONOMIC LOSSES”

Explaining that they started the project in March 2022, Prof. Dr. Hadimli said, “Our aim in the project is to fully reflect the infections caused by Escherichia coli by sampling from 5 different regions covering Turkey. We aim to prepare a cocktail of bacteriophages that we will be isolated from the samples we have taken, and to transform this cocktail into a configuration that can be used not only in one region, but throughout Turkey. Within the scope of the project, we will take samples from 1,500 animals from different regions of Turkey. We will take 300 samples from each region, and 100 dairy cows, 100 sheep and goats, and 100 poultry as animal species. We will determine which Escherichia coli Bacteriophage is seen in our country. We will both receive data and develop a prototype of a product within the scope of the project. Accordingly, I hope that we aim to prevent Escherichia coli infections, which cause very serious diseases and deaths in our country, especially in newborns. In this way, we want to prevent deaths and economic losses by treating sick animals in a shorter time.”

“WE WILL CREATE A PROTOTYPE OF OUR PRODUCT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT”

Stateing that active sampling studies are continuing, Hadimli said “Our goal is to isolate 25 bacteriophages from the samples we take from all over Turkey. After making their molecular characterizations, we plan to prepare a bacteriophage cocktail from the phages we isolated. We will evaluate whether they are effective in experimental animals as well. We have now obtained 5 bacteriophage isolates. Three of them belong to sheep and dairy cows, and one of them belongs to poultry.”

Noting that it has become more important to produce many products in the country due to the Kovid-19 pandemic and wars, Prof. Dr. Hadimli added that they aim to disseminate the product, of which they will create a prototype within the scope of the project, throughout Turkey through Dollvet, which produces the Turcovac vaccine.