Therapeutic potential of bacteriophage in treating Klebsiella pneumoniae B5055-mediated lobar pneumonia in mice

• Published in: Journal of medical microbiology Vol. 57; no. 12; pp. 1508 - 1513
• Main Authors: Chhibber, Sanjay, Kaur, Sandeep, Kumari, Seema
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.12.2008; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteriology; Bacteriophages - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Colony Count, Microbial; Disease Models, Animal; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infectious diseases; Klebsiella Infections - microbiology; Klebsiella Infections - therapy; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Klebsiella pneumoniae - pathogenicity; Klebsiella pneumoniae - virology; Lung - microbiology; Male; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Pneumonia - microbiology; Pneumonia - therapy; Treatment Outcome; Virology; Lung disease; Pneumonia; Microbiology; Respiratory disease; Rodentia; Virus; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Bacteria; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Enterobacteriaceae; Phage
• ISSN: 0022-2615; 1473-5644
• DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.2008/002873-0

Department of Microbiology, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014, India Correspondence Sanjay Chhibber sanjaychhibber8{at}sify.com Received April 25, 2008 Accepted August 15, 2008 Klebsiella pneumoniae causes infections in humans especially in immunocompromised patients. About 80 % of nosocomial infections caused by K. pneumoniae are due to multidrug-resistant strains. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains necessitates the exploration of alternative antibacterial therapies, which led our group to study the ability of bacterial viruses (known as bacteriophages or simply phages) to treat mice challenged with K. pneumoniae . Phage SS specific for K. pneumoniae B5055 was isolated and characterized, and its potential as a therapeutic agent was evaluated in an experimental model of K. pneumoniae -mediated lobar pneumonia in mice. Mice were challenged by intranasal (i.n.) inoculation with bacteria (10 8  c.f.u. ml –1 ). A single intraperitoneal injection of 10 10  p.f.u. ml –1 phage administered immediately after i.n. challenge was sufficient to rescue 100 % of animals from K. pneumoniae -mediated respiratory infections. Administration of the phage preparation 3 h prior to i.n. bacterial challenge provided significant protection in infected mice, while even 6 h delay of phage administration after the induction of infection rendered the phage treatment ineffective. The results of this study therefore suggest that the timing of starting the phage therapy after initiation of infection significantly contributes towards the success of the treatment. Abbreviations: i.n., intranasal; i.p., intraperitoneal.