Formulation-Level Tolerability of Repeated Drinking-Water Administration of a Commercial Multi-Component Bacteriophage Product in Ross 308 Broiler Chickens: A Pilot 27-Day Dose-Escalation Study

Description

Ádám Kerek and five colleagues run a safety-first pilot of a bacteria-killing virus product in broiler chickens in a 2026 study. Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, promise antibiotic-sparing disease control, yet farm products need tolerance proof before efficacy trials. One hundred twenty Ross 308 birds drank water with Fagovet, a commercial multi-phage mix, for twenty-seven days at the label rate or at threefold and fivefold overdoses, against untreated controls.

Weight gain and feed intake held steady at every dose. No consistent dose-linked pattern of illness, death, or post-mortem damage appeared. The authors are frank about limits: doses were set by product volume, not by counted viruses in the water, and the mix's parts were never separately profiled. They present the results as short-term tolerance of this formulation in unchallenged birds, a green light for stricter studies with measured exposure and real pathogen challenge.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13517655