Figure 5.

Effect of elevated temperature on formulated and non-formulated T2 phage longevity. Experiments were measured at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 24 h. All experiments were conducted in quadruplicate (n = 4). Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. Formulated and non-formulated T2 phage exposed to (a) 25 °C; (b) 37 °C; (c) 50 °C; (d) 60 °C. However, at 50 °C a significant difference was observed in the viability between formulated and non-formulated phage at all time points with formulated phage having a viability of 5.3 Log₁₀ PFU/mL after 24 h of incubation compared to non-formulated phage with a viability of 1.3 Log₁₀ PFU/mL, representing an 84% difference in viability. Similar results were obtained at 60 °C as the survival rate of non-formulated phage dramatically declined (Figure 5) and completely disappeared after 3 h while formulated phage was still viable with a survival rate of 1.5 Log₁₀ PFU/mL.