Abstract
A phage set for typing Bacillus cereus was developed . Ninety-six phages were isolated from 85 soil samples using B. cereus pilot strains for 36 H-serovars as indicator strains. Eleven phages were selected based on their stability and host range, and were classified into 5 groups using a neutralization test with antisera . We used 5 phages, Φa, Φb, Φc, Φd and Φe as a typing phage set. The typing phage set typed 36 pilot strains for H-serovars into 17 phage patterns (83.3% typeable) and 11 phage patterns (100% typeable), 25 isolates from powdered fish meal samples into 9 phage patterns (48% typeable) and 9 phage patterns (100% typeable), and 100 isolates from soil samples into 24 phage patterns (79% typeable) and 14 phage patterns (100% typeable) at routine test dilution (1×RTD) and 100×RTD, respectively.
