Bacteriophages Against Aeromonas Species in Aquaculture: An Integrative Review of Therapeutic Applications, Genomic Advances and Future Directions

Aquaculture has become the leading source of global aquatic food production, and its continued expansion has been accompanied by an increasing burden of bacterial diseases. Aeromonas spp. are among the most damaging bacterial pathogens in aquaculture and are recognised reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance within a One Health framework. Although bacteriophages have been investigated against numerous aquaculture pathogens, evidence relating to Aeromonas-targeting phages remains dispersed across studies. This integrative review synthesises research published between 1981 and 2026 on bacteriophages targeting Aeromonas spp. and examines the development of the field from early isolation studies to current therapeutic and translational applications. Studies were identified through structured searches of PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus and analysed for phage isolation, genomic characterisation, therapeutic efficacy, delivery strategies and phage-derived applications. Comparison of findings across studies reveals several consistent patterns. Phage cocktails generally provided broader antibacterial activity and reduced the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant strains compared with single-phage treatments. Preventive applications consistently produced higher survival rates than treatments applied after infection, while whole-genome sequencing has become a routine component of candidate phage evaluation. Recent studies have expanded the scope of phage-based interventions beyond intact virions to include phage-derived endolysins, oral delivery systems and phage lysate-based vaccine approaches. The evidence shows that bacteriophages can reduce mortality, suppress bacterial infections and improve survival across diverse aquaculture species affected by Aeromonas spp. Phage resistance, large-scale implementation and regulatory harmonisation remain important challenges, supporting further development of phage-based disease management in aquaculture.