Bacteriophage may have mitigated infection silently in Ganges water during Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj, India

The world's largest religious gathering, the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, took place at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India, from January 13 to February 26, 2025, spanning 45 days. It drew around 660 million devotees from all over the world. There was a risk of waterborne illnesses due to this high-level gathering. Still, the risk was mitigated by the Ganga River's capacity to purify itself through its bacteriophage population, which is present (natural phage therapy). Devotees rarely get serious diseases despite considerable contamination due to mass gatherings, as per the literature. A range of bacteriophages has harnessed the Ganga River's capacity for self-cleaning to manage the risk of waterborne infections caused by various bacteria, as highlighted here.