Infection and Drug Resistance (Oct 2021)

Investigations on Acinetophage, QAB 3.4, Targeting Extensively Drug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates

  • Hussain A,
  • Kousar S,
  • Ullah I,
  • Zulfiqar A,
  • Ali HA,
  • Manzoor A,
  • Aziz A,
  • Javaid A,
  • Aziz M,
  • Khaliq B,
  • Nazir H,
  • Khan AA,
  • Akrem A,
  • Saeed MQ

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 4261 – 4269

Abstract

Read online

Aamir Hussain,1– 3 Shaheena Kousar,2 Ihsan Ullah,3 Aqsa Zulfiqar,2 Hafiz Arslan Ali,2 Amina Manzoor,2 Atif Aziz,2 Asghar Javaid,4 Mubashar Aziz,2 Binish Khaliq,5 Humera Nazir,2 Aleem Ahmed Khan,2 Ahmed Akrem,2 Muhammad Qamar Saeed2 1Combined Military Hospital Multan, Multan, Pakistan; 2Dr. Ghulam Nabi Chaudhry Laboratory of Microbial Technologies, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan; 3Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan; 4Pathology Department, Nishtar Medical University, Multan, Pakistan; 5Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Lahore, PakistanCorrespondence: Muhammad Qamar SaeedDr. Ghulam Nabi Chaudhry Laboratory of Microbial Technologies, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, PakistanTel +92 333-0231222Email [email protected]: Drug resistance against antimicrobials is on the rise at alarmingly high rates. Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the six ESKAPE pathogens which are a significant “one health” issue. Clinical isolates of A. baumannii exhibit MDR phenotype mostly and infrequently the XDR and PDR phenotype. As a result, these infections have one of the highest mortality rates in hospitals. Alternative therapies are urgently needed.Methods: Various phages were enriched against XDR clinical strain of A. baumannii. A potent phage, QAB 3.4, was further tested against 100 clinical strains. Because of its broad lytic activity, it was further tested for stability, resistance development and as an infection control agent.Results: Phage QAB 3.4 showed broad lytic activity against 100 MDR and XDR clinical isolates representing a wide diversity of infection sites. Assays conducted to document the phage’s stability, and ability of clinical isolates to develop resistance against it, showed promising outcomes for its potential use in clinical applications. Phage QAB 3.4 was able to eradicate A. baumannii from pre-inoculated solid surfaces. It provides a proof of concept that phages can be used as environmentally friendly infection control agents.Conclusion: We propose the phage QAB 3.4 is a promising candidate for further pre-clinical and clinical studies to test its biosafety and efficacy.Keywords: ESKAPE, A. baumannii, bacteriophages, phage therapy, host-range, lytic activity

Keywords