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Detecting Closer to Care: Combining Phage and LAMP to Detect Tuberculosis, Bovine TB and Johne’s Disease (2024)
Journal Article
Shield, C. G., Bartlett, A. E. M., Haldar, P., & Swift, B. M. C. (in press). Detecting Closer to Care: Combining Phage and LAMP to Detect Tuberculosis, Bovine TB and Johne’s Disease. Applied Microbiology, 4(1), 341-353. https://doi.org/10.3390/applmicrobiol4010023

Mycobacterial diseases impact millions in the human and veterinary fields each year. Their diagnosis is long and laborious, often only sensitive in the late stages of disease. This has created an unmet need for new diagnostics that are effective in t... Read More about Detecting Closer to Care: Combining Phage and LAMP to Detect Tuberculosis, Bovine TB and Johne’s Disease.

PET-CT-guided characterisation of progressive, preclinical tuberculosis infection and its association with low-level circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in household contacts in Leicester, UK: a prospective cohort study (2024)
Journal Article
Kim, J. W., Bowman, K., Nazareth, J., Lee, J., Woltmann, G., Verma, R., …Haldar, P. (2024). PET-CT-guided characterisation of progressive, preclinical tuberculosis infection and its association with low-level circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in household contacts in Leicester, UK: a prospective cohort study. The Lancet Microbe, 5(2), e119-e130. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2666-5247%2823%2900289-6

Background Incipient tuberculosis, a progressive state of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection with an increased risk of developing into tuberculosis disease, remains poorly characterised. Animal models suggest an association of progressive infectio... Read More about PET-CT-guided characterisation of progressive, preclinical tuberculosis infection and its association with low-level circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in household contacts in Leicester, UK: a prospective cohort study.

Relationships between soil and badger elemental concentrations across a heterogeneously contaminated landscape (2023)
Journal Article
Sartorius, A., Cahoon, M., Corbetta, D., Grau-Roma, L., Johnson, M., Barron, E., …Bennett, M. (2023). Relationships between soil and badger elemental concentrations across a heterogeneously contaminated landscape. Science of the Total Environment, 869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161684

Understanding the links between environmental and wildlife elemental concentrations is key to help assess ecosystem functions and the potential effects of legacy pollutants. In this study, livers from 448 European badgers (Meles meles) collected acro... Read More about Relationships between soil and badger elemental concentrations across a heterogeneously contaminated landscape.

Microbiological risk ranking of foodborne pathogens and food products in scarce-data settings (2022)
Journal Article
Crotta, M., Prakashbabu, B., Holt, H., Swift, B., Pedada, V., Shaik, T., …Guitian, J. (2022). Microbiological risk ranking of foodborne pathogens and food products in scarce-data settings. Food Control, 141, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109152

In the absence of epidemiological, microbiological or outbreak data, systematic identification of the hazards and food products posing the higher risk to the consumers is challenging. It is usually in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where t... Read More about Microbiological risk ranking of foodborne pathogens and food products in scarce-data settings.

Epidemiological prevalence of phenotypical resistances and mobilised colistin resistance in avian commensal and pathogenic E. coli from Denmark, France, Netherlands and UK (2022)
Journal Article
Mead, A., Billon-Lotz, C., Olsen, R., Swift, B., Richez, P., Stabler, R., & Pelligand, L. (2022). Epidemiological prevalence of phenotypical resistances and mobilised colistin resistance in avian commensal and pathogenic E. coli from Denmark, France, Netherlands and UK. Antibiotics, https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11050631

Colistin has been used for treatment of non-invasive gastrointestinal infections caused by avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC). The discovery of mobilised colistin resistance (mcr) in E. coli [1] has instigated a One Health approach to minimise colistin... Read More about Epidemiological prevalence of phenotypical resistances and mobilised colistin resistance in avian commensal and pathogenic E. coli from Denmark, France, Netherlands and UK.

Tuberculosis in badgers where the bovine tuberculosis epidemic is expanding in cattle in England (2021)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Sandoval Barron, E., Christley, R., Corbetta, D., Grau-Roma, L., Jewell, C., …Bennett, M. (2021). Tuberculosis in badgers where the bovine tuberculosis epidemic is expanding in cattle in England. Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00473-6

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an important animal health and economic problem for the cattle industry and a potential zoonotic threat. Wild badgers (Meles meles) play a role on its epidemiology in some areas of high prevalence in cattle, particularly... Read More about Tuberculosis in badgers where the bovine tuberculosis epidemic is expanding in cattle in England.

Development of a Method to Detect Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in the Blood of Farmed Deer Using Actiphage® Rapid (2021)
Journal Article
Kubala, A., Perehinec, T. M., Evans, C., Pirovano, A., Swift, B. M. C., & Rees, C. E. D. (2021). Development of a Method to Detect Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in the Blood of Farmed Deer Using Actiphage® Rapid. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.665697

Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease, which is an economically and clinically relevant pathogen for commercial deer production. The purpose of this study was to develop a method that could be used... Read More about Development of a Method to Detect Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in the Blood of Farmed Deer Using Actiphage® Rapid.

The Application of Bacteriophage Diagnostics for Bacterial Pathogens in the Agricultural Supply Chain: From Farm-to-Fork (2020)
Journal Article
Jones, H. J., Shield, C. G., & Swift, B. M. (2020). The Application of Bacteriophage Diagnostics for Bacterial Pathogens in the Agricultural Supply Chain: From Farm-to-Fork. PHAGE Therapy, Applications, and Research, 1(4), 176-188. https://doi.org/10.1089/phage.2020.0042

Bacteriophages (phages) have great potential not only as therapeutics but as diagnostics. Indeed, they have been developed and used to diagnose and detect bacterial infections, primarily in human clinical settings. The ability to rapidly detect and c... Read More about The Application of Bacteriophage Diagnostics for Bacterial Pathogens in the Agricultural Supply Chain: From Farm-to-Fork.

The development and use of Actiphage® to detect viable mycobacteria from bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease-infected animals (2019)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Meade, N., Barron, E. S., Bennett, M., Perehenic, T., Hughes, V., …Rees, C. E. D. (2019). The development and use of Actiphage® to detect viable mycobacteria from bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease-infected animals. Microbial Biotechnology, 13(3), 738-746. https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13518

Here, we describe the development of a method that exploits bacteriophage D29 as a lysis agent for efficient DNA extraction from low numbers of mycobacterial cells. This method (Actiphage®) used in combination with PCR achieved rapid and sensitive (L... Read More about The development and use of Actiphage® to detect viable mycobacteria from bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease-infected animals.

The specificity of phage testing for MAP — where might it fit into the diagnostic armoury? (2019)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., & Rees, C. E. D. (2019). The specificity of phage testing for MAP — where might it fit into the diagnostic armoury?. Livestock, 24(4), https://doi.org/10.12968/live.2019.24.4.176

The current individual tools available for the diagnosis of Johne's disease are far from suitable to tackle this endemic disease. Culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests, when used together can be... Read More about The specificity of phage testing for MAP — where might it fit into the diagnostic armoury?.

A novel, high-sensitivity, bacteriophage-based assay identifies low level Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteraemia in immunocompetent patients with active and incipient tuberculosis (2019)
Journal Article
Verma, R., Swift, B. M. C., Handley-Hartill, W., Lee, J. K., Woltmann, G., Rees, C. E. D., & Haldar, P. (2019). A novel, high-sensitivity, bacteriophage-based assay identifies low level Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteraemia in immunocompetent patients with active and incipient tuberculosis. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 70(5), 933-936. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciz548

Haematogenous dissemination of M. tuberculosis (Mtb) is critical to pathogenesis of progressive tuberculous infection in animal models. Using a novel phage-based blood assay, we report the first concordant evidence in well-characterised immunocompete... Read More about A novel, high-sensitivity, bacteriophage-based assay identifies low level Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteraemia in immunocompetent patients with active and incipient tuberculosis.

A study of tuberculosis in road traffic-killed badgers on the edge of the British bovine TB epidemic area (2018)
Journal Article
Sandoval Barron, E., Swift, B. M. C., Chantrey, J., Christley, R., Gardner, R., Jewell, C., …Bennett, M. (2018). A study of tuberculosis in road traffic-killed badgers on the edge of the British bovine TB epidemic area. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35652-5

The role of badgers in the geographic expansion of the bovine tuberculosis (bTB) epidemic in England is unknown: indeed there have been few published studies of bTB in badgers outside of the Southwest of England where the infection is now endemic in... Read More about A study of tuberculosis in road traffic-killed badgers on the edge of the British bovine TB epidemic area.

Anthropogenic environmental drivers of antimicrobial resistance in wildlife (2018)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Bennett, M., Waller, K., Dodd, C., Murray, A., Gomes, R. L., …Arnold, K. E. (2018). Anthropogenic environmental drivers of antimicrobial resistance in wildlife. Science of the Total Environment, 649, 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.180

The isolation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) from wildlife living adjacent to humans has led to the suggestion that such antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is anthropogenically driven by exposure to antimicrobials and ARB. However, ARB have al... Read More about Anthropogenic environmental drivers of antimicrobial resistance in wildlife.

Survival of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in retail pasteurised milk (2018)
Journal Article
Gerrard, Z. E., Swift, B. M. C., Botsaris, G., Davidson, R. S., Hutchings, M. R., Huxley, J. N., & Rees, C. E. D. (2018). Survival of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in retail pasteurised milk. Food Microbiology, 74, 57-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2018.03.004

A survey of retail purchased semi-skimmed pasteurised milk (n = 368) for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) was conducted between May 2014 and June 2015 across the midlands of England using the Phage-PCR assay. Overall, 10.3% of th... Read More about Survival of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in retail pasteurised milk.

Evaluation of the limitations and methods to improve rapid phage-based detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the blood of experimentally infected cattle (2016)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Huxley, J. N., Plain, K. M., Begg, D. J., De Silva, K., Purdie, A. C., …Rees, C. E. (2016). Evaluation of the limitations and methods to improve rapid phage-based detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the blood of experimentally infected cattle. BMC Veterinary Research, 12(1), 115. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-016-0728-2

Disseminated infection and bacteraemia is an underreported and under-researched aspect of Johne’s disease. This is mainly due to the time it takes for Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) to grow and lack of sensitivity of culture. Viabl... Read More about Evaluation of the limitations and methods to improve rapid phage-based detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the blood of experimentally infected cattle.

Evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA (2016)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Convery, T. W., & Rees, C. E. (2016). Evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA. Virulence, 7(7), 779-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2016.1191729

Bovine tuberculosis is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis that affects cattle and can cause tuberculosis in a range of wildlife animals. A bacteriophage-based method combined with PCR (phage-PCR) has been recently used to det... Read More about Evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA.

Detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in powdered infant formula by phage-PCR and confirmed by culture (2016)
Journal Article
Botsaris, G., Swift, B. M. C., Slana, I., Liapi, M., Christodoulou, M., Hatzitofi, M., …Rees, C. E. (2016). Detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in powdered infant formula by phage-PCR and confirmed by culture. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 216, 91-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.09.011

Surveys from different parts of the world have reported that viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) can be cultured from approximately 2% of samples of retail pasteurised milk samples. Pasteurised milk is used for the production of... Read More about Detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in powdered infant formula by phage-PCR and confirmed by culture.

Factors Affecting Phage D29 Infection: A Tool to Investigate Different Growth States of Mycobacteria (2014)
Journal Article
Swift, B. M. C., Gerrard, Z. E., Huxley, J. N., & Rees, C. E. (2014). Factors Affecting Phage D29 Infection: A Tool to Investigate Different Growth States of Mycobacteria. PLoS ONE, 9, e106690. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106690

Bacteriophages D29 and TM4 are able to infect a wide range of mycobacteria, including pathogenic and non-pathogenic species. Successful phage infection of both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria can be rapidly detected using the phage amplification... Read More about Factors Affecting Phage D29 Infection: A Tool to Investigate Different Growth States of Mycobacteria.

CONSERVATION CHALLENGES: THE LIMITATIONS OF ANTEMORTEM TUBERCULOSIS TESTING IN CAPTIVE ASIATIC LIONS (PANTHERA LEO PERSICA)
Journal Article
LIONS (PANTHERA LEO PERSICA). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 51(2), 426-432. https://doi.org/10.1638/2019-0084

Genetic diversity of captive wild animals can be enhanced by moving those individuals with valuable genes between collections and through introduction of a new pair from a range country. This requires movement of animals, which is inherent with disea... Read More about CONSERVATION CHALLENGES: THE LIMITATIONS OF ANTEMORTEM TUBERCULOSIS TESTING IN CAPTIVE ASIATIC LIONS (PANTHERA LEO PERSICA).