Multidrug resistant infections are a challenge in the health care setting and a cause of patient morbidity and mortality. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that target and kill bacteria and have been used in patients to treat bacterial infections. We present a case of disseminated infection, with pulmonary, intra-abdominal and bloodstream involvement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is undermining modern medicine, a problem compounded by bacterial adaptation to antibiotic pressures. Phages are viruses that infect bacteria. Their diversity and evolvability offer the prospect of their use as a therapeutic solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe border city of El Paso, Texas, and its water utility, El Paso Water, initiated a SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring program to assess virus trends and the appropriateness of a wastewater monitoring program for the community. Nearly weekly sample collection at four wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs), serving distinct regions of the city, was analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 genes using the CDC 2019-Novel coronavirus Real-Time RT-PCR diagnostic panel. Virus concentrations ranged from 86.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhages are naturally occurring viruses that selectively kill bacterial species without disturbing the individual's normal flora, averting the collateral damage of antimicrobial usage. The safety and the effectiveness of phages have been mainly confirmed in the food industry as well as in animal models. In this study, we report on the successful isolation of phages specific to Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci, including (VRE) and from sewage samples, and demonstrate their efficacy and safety for VRE infection in the greater wax moth model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genus Bacillus includes species with diverse natural histories, including free-living nonpathogenic heterotrophs such as B. subtilis and host-dependent pathogens such as B. anthracis (the etiological agent of the disease anthrax) and B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC), often multidrug resistant (MDR), is a leading cause of urinary tract and systemic infections. The crisis of emergent MDR pathogens has led some to propose bacteriophages as a therapeutic. However, bacterial resistance to phage is a concerning issue that threatens to undermine phage therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe continued rise in antibiotic resistance is precipitating a medical crisis. Bacteriophage (phage) has been hailed as one possible therapeutic option to augment the efficacy of antibiotics. However, only a few studies have addressed the synergistic relationship between phage and antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMutation is the most powerful driver of change for life on Earth. Pathogenic bacteria utilize mutation as a means to survive strong live-die selective pressures generated by chemical antibiotics. As such, the traditional drug-making pipeline, characterized by significant financial and time investment, is insufficient to keep pace with the rapid evolution of bacterial resistance to structurally fixed and chemically unmalleable antibacterial compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhage therapy requires libraries of well-characterized phages. Here we describe the generation of phage libraries for three target species: , , and . The basic phage characteristics on the isolation host, sequence analysis, growth properties, and host range and virulence on a number of contemporary clinical isolates are presented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe endospore forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis causes lethal anthrax disease in humans and animals. The ability of this pathogen to replicate within macrophages is dependent upon the display of bacterial surface proteins attached to the cell wall by the B. anthracis Sortase A ((Ba)SrtA) enzyme.
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