Klebsiella pneumoniae phage

The increasing occurrence of bacteremia associated with carbapenem-colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CColRkp) highlights a critical requirement to discover new therapeutic alternatives. Among 12 phages we isolated from public wastewater in Thailand, two phages - vB_CColRkp_05 and vB_CColRkp_08 of the Myoviridae and Podoviridae families, respectively, showed host-specific, broad-spectrum bacteriolytic activities against 81.3% (n=26) and 78.1% (n=25) of 32 CColRkp clinical isolates. Both phages showed short replication times, large burst sizes with high adsorption rates, and stable bacteriolytic activities under various environmental conditions, implying their promising potential as therapeutic agent. Combining the phage cocktail with amikacin at sub-inhibitory concentrations produced potent synergistic bacteriolytic effects and completely suppressed bacterial regrowth in vitro.