Isolation and Identification of O157:H7 Lytic Bacteriophage from Environment Sewage

O157:H7 is one of the pathogenic bacteria causing foodborne disease. The use of lytic bacteriophages can be a good solution to overcome the disease. This study is aimed at isolating lytic bacteriophages from environmental sewage with O157:H7 bacterial cells. The sample used in this study was eight bacteriophages, and the technique used in identifying O157:H7 carriers of the 1 and 2 genes was PCR. The double layer plaque technique was used to classify bacteriophages. Plaque morphology, host specificity, and electron micrograph were used to identify the bacteriophages. The result obtained plaque morphology as a clear zone with the largest diameter size of 3.5 mm. Lytic bacteriophage could infect O157:H7 at the highest titer of 10 × 10 PFU/mL. Bacteriophages have been identified as and . Phage 3, phage 4, and phage 8 could infect 1 (1) due to their host specificity. The Friedman statistical tests indicate that lytic bacteriophage can significantly lyse O157:H7 ( = 0.012). The lysis of O157:H7 by phage 1, phage 2, phage 3, and phage 5 bacteriophages was statistically significant, according to Conover's posthoc test ( < 0.05). The conclusion obtained from this study is that lytic bacteriophages from environmental sewage could lyse O157:H7. Therefore, it could be an alternative biocontrol agent against O157:H7 that contaminates food causing foodborne disease.