Bacteriophages in the Control of Food- and Waterborne Pathogens Doody's Expert Review Review Questionnaire ISBN: 9781555815028 ISBN-10: 1555815022 Copyright: 2010 Edition: 1st Editors: Sabour, Parviz M., Griffiths, Mansel W., Doody's Expert Review    Score: 77 Doody's Star Rating™ and Doody's Expert Review provide by Doody Enterprises, Inc. Reviewer: Rebecca Horvat,  PhD, D(ABMM)  (University of Kansas Medical Center) Description This is a unique, comprehensive overview of how bacteriophages can be used to control the growth of deleterious bacteria. Chapters focus principally on the use of phages in agriculture and food safety as an alternative to chemicals, including antibiotics. Purpose This book covers the basic scientific information available on phage biology including the life cycle in the bacterial hosts. It also details the processes needed to introduce phages into animal, plant, and environmental situations to prevent damaging bacterial growth. This should lead to further study in these areas and possibly provide an alternative to current methods used to prevent bacterial spoilage. Audience The primary audience for this book includes agricultural and environmental scientists working on the detection and prevention of harmful bacteria in food and environment that could cause infections in humans. It is written at the level of laboratory scientists researching the potential of phage therapy. The authors work in laboratories worldwide and actively study phages as a means to detect and destroy harmful bacteria. Features The book notes that bacteriophages are present in the environment at very high levels and naturally act to eliminate bacteria in a number of different environments such as water, soil, and plants. The use of these unique "bacterial viruses" as agents to control spoilage in food, illness from contaminated foods, and as bioindicators in water is an interesting concept with much potential for growth. The key to preventing foodborne and environmental illnesses is to eliminate bacteria responsible for the illness in humans. Thus, many of the studies determine the ability of phages to abolish bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli O157 in all stages of food production. Others consider using phages as an indicator of water quality in wastewater treatment plants. The book also notes the numerous obstacles and additional information needed before the use of phages in these settings could safely be used. These issues involve regulatory approval, investigation of raw material needed to grow the phages, and the stability of the preparations. Assessment This is a well-written book with valuable information about a unique field of study that would be useful to pharmaceutical companies as well as agriculture and public health scientists. Review Questionnaire Range Question Score 1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 6 1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 8 1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5 1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 3 1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 4 1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 4 1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 5 1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 4 1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 4 1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5 1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 4 1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 3 1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 3 1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book 3 1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 8 1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? N/A ©2024 Doody Enterprises, Inc.