Study of Serratia phages using virulence tests

One of the main tests in selection of therapeutic phages is studying their virulence. Because of high stability of lysogenic status of bacterial culture, as well as ability in some cases of horizontal transfer of prophages and antibiotic resistance factors, existence of the moderate phages in medical preparations may cause negative results. The Serratia phages were studied with two main tests in the present work: sowing effectiveness and range of lysis action, as well as phage reproductive capacity on the host cells irradiated with UV rays. The results obtained showed that sowing effectiveness of studied phages and range of action are quite high. Out of 14 clones of Serratia phages 11 were characterized with reproductive ability on the host strains inactivated by UV rays. The results of above experimental works and other earlier tests allowed us selecting the components of Serratia phages for the medical-preventive preparation.