The emergence of new pathogenic bacteria resistant to most, if not all, currently existing antimicrobial agents has become a serious problem in modern medicine, particularly because of the affiliated increase in immunosuppressed inhabitants worldwide. The recent surfacing of E. coli O157:H7 as a foremost food pathogen is a lively reminder of its dynamic character. Mounting concerns about drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria have rekindled interest in alternative treatments of bacterial infections. Prominent among these alternatives is phage therapy for combating supportive infections. This observation particularly calls for the in vivo examination of environmental phage candidates to treat stx1A and stx2A positive Escherichia coli O157:H7 induced experimental diarrhea. Two O157-specific lytic bacteriophages PAH6 and P2BH2 were isolated from sewage and characterized. Healthy conventional Swiss albino mice were used for investigating the O157:H7 specific diarrhea applied through three alternative routes (oral, intramuscular and intraperitoneal).The highest titer of orally added E. coli 0157:H7 was found to be fatal within 24 hrs. A single oral dose of phage strain (1X10 ) alone or in combination was sufficient to rescue 100% of the animals from this lethal challenge in vivo. Finally, the results obtained in this study suggest that cocktail of two coliphages applied orally for treatment gastrointestinal infection have good therapeutic potential.

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The results suggest that with regard to the risk of chronic undernutrition, the negative effect of high-risk fertility behavior extends across all economic backgrounds and is not limited to children of mothers who were either poor or who experienced high-risk fertility.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of research on knowledge/attitudes regarding the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoking (SHS) among women. The relationship between exposure to SHS, socioeconomic status (SES) and knowledge/attitudes regarding the risks of SHS has often been ignored. We therefore aimed to examine (1) whether SES and exposure to SHS were independently associated with knowledge/attitudes regarding the risks of SHS; and (2) whether women with low SES and exposure to SHS were uniquely disadvantaged in terms of deficient knowledge and more dismissive attitudes towards the risks of SHS. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study in the Rajshahi district, Bangladesh. METHODS: A total of 541 women were interviewed. Knowledge of and attitudes towards the risks of SHS were the outcomes of interest. RESULTS: A majority of the respondents were exposed to SHS at home (49.0%). Only 20.1% had higher levels of knowledge, and only 37.3% had non-dismissive attitudes towards the risks of SHS. Participants in the low SES group and those exposed to SHS had lower odds of higher knowledge and their attitudes towards the risks of SHS were more dismissive. Regarding deficient levels of knowledge and scores indicating more dismissive attitudes, women in the low SES group and who were exposed to SHS were not uniquely disadvantaged. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to SHS and low SES were independently associated with deficient knowledge and scores indicating more dismissive attitudes. Regarding knowledge/attitudes, the negative effect of exposure to SHS extended across all socioeconomic backgrounds and was not limited to women in either the low or the high SES group.