10th Anniversary of Antibiotics—Recent Advances in Bacteriophage Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

Phage therapy is not a new practice, as phages have been used since the end of the nineteenth century. Right after their discovery, however, with the progressive production and mass use of antibiotics, research about the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages was gradually neglected, especially in Western contries. Due to the increase in antibiotic resistance, in recent years the need to find new antimicrobial alternatives has led to a rediscovery of bacteriophages all around the world. Although recent research has shown that bacteriophages can represent a viable alternative or be part of conventional antimicrobial therapy in combination with antibiotics or other molecules/therapies, in clinical and non-clinical areas more studies are needed. In vivo/ex vivo experiments directed at multidrug-resistant bacteria, intracellular bacteria, bacteria capable of forming biofilms, bacteria involved in chronic infections; the prevention of phage-resistance mechanisms by bacteria; the impact of phage use on the environment; legislation development for phage application are among the phage therapy areas that deserve further study.

The Antibiotics journal was founded in 2012 and, during the past 10 years, has launched more than 100 Special Issues and published more than 1500 papers. The journal covers all aspects of antibiotic discovery, use and preservation. The year 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of Antibiotics, which we are excited to celebrate with a Special Issue.

This Special Issue welcomes both research and review papers on the most recent and innovative developments in phage therapy bacteriophages. We hope that the Special Issue can further encourage and promote the scientific contributions of the researchers in this field, highlighting the advances in phage therapy in both clinical and nonclinical areas, namely:

• Phage therapy against multidrug-resistant bacteria, intracellular bacteria, bacteria capable of forming biofilms, and bacteria involved in chronic infections;
• The impact of phage use on the environment;
• The effects of environmental factors on phage viability;
• The functional stabilization/preservation of phage particles;
• Phage administration routes, phage concentrations, and moments of treatment;
• Phage specificity to target bacteria;
• The development of phage-resistant bacteria;
• Phage therapy combined with other antimicrobial approaches;
• Phage therapy regulatory options for the way forward.

Prof. Dr. Adelaide Almeida
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.