THE PRESENT POSITION IN BRUCELLA PHAGE RESEARCH. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.

It is only comparatively recently that efforts to isolate and purify stable Brucella phages have met with success. This success has important implications for the epidemiology and possibly the control of brucellosis, and the author has therefore thought it opportune to summarize and review the present state of research on Brucella phages.After giving an outline of the history of Brucella phage isolation, she goes into the methodology of phage isolation from numerous sources, of phage reinforcement, and of determination of the lytic activity of phage. This is followed by a discussion of the biological properties, morphology and typing of Brucella phage, and of lysogeny in Brucella. Finally, she reviews the promising research that is being done on Brucella typing with specific phage and on the use of antiphage serum in diagnosis, and discusses the possible use of phage in the treatment and prevention of brucellosis.