Fighting microbes with microbes

Abstract

Microbes exhibit a strong association with human beings by colonizing different parts of the body. These microbes can be either beneficial or harmful. Pathogenic microbes are known to cause serious infections in humans and in other multicellular organisms which disturb the host physiology. These pathogenic microbes have intrinsic traits which contribute to their survival under hostile conditions, evasion of host immune responses and resistance to various therapeutic agents which in turn confers them with near invincibility. Therefore, exploration of novel agents which could specifically target and kill microbes is very much on the demand. Interestingly, one such agent could be microbes themselves. Utilizing microbial components and/or microbial whole cells either to target pathogens directly or at modulating the biological fitness of the host including boosting host immune responses. In this chapter, we discuss these various modes by which microbes and their products could be employed in combating microbial infections, eventually to improve healthcare.