Development and Use of Personalized Bacteriophage-Based Therapeutic Cocktails To Treat a Patient with a Disseminated Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infection
Open accessAbstract
Widespread antibiotic use in clinical medicine and the livestock industry has contributed to the global spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens, including Acinetobacter baumannii . We report on a method used to produce a personalized bacteriophage-based therapeutic treatment for a 68-year-old diabetic patient with necrotizing pancreatitis complicated by an MDR A. baumannii infection. Despite multiple antibiotic courses and efforts at percutaneous drainage of a pancreatic pseudocyst, the patient deteriorated over a 4-month period. In the absence of effective antibiotics, two laboratories identified nine different bacteriophages with lytic activity for an A. baumannii isolate from the patient. Administration of these bacteriophages intravenously and percutaneously into the abscess cavities was associated with reversal of the patient's downward clinical trajectory, clearance of the A. baumannii infection, and a return to health. The outcome of this case suggests that the methods described here for the production of bacteriophage therapeutics could be applied to similar cases and that more concerted efforts to investigate the use of therapeutic bacteriophages for MDR bacterial infections are warranted.
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A landmark case demonstrated successful clearance of a systemic multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection following personalized phage therapy administered under eIND approval, resulting in full patient recovery.
“A landmark case demonstrated successful clearance of a systemic MDR Acinetobacter baumannii infection following personalized phage therapy administered under eIND approval, resulting in full patient recovery [127]”
From Phage therapy in oncology: opportunities for cancer prevention and treatment (2026) · cites this paper as [127]
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- Authors
- Schooley, R. T., Biswas, B., Gill, J. J., Hernandez-Morales, A., Lancaster, J., Lessor, L., Barr, J. J., Reed, S. L., Rohwer, F., Benler, S., Segall, A. M., Taplitz, R., Smith, D. M., Kerr, K., Kumaraswamy, M., Nizet, V., Lin, L., McCauley, M. D., Strathdee, S. A., Benson, C. A., Pope, R. K., Leroux, B. M., Picel, A. C., Mateczun, A. J., Cilwa, K. E., Regeimbal, J. M., Estrella, L. A., Wolfe, D. M., Henry, M. S., Quinones, J., Salka, S., Bishop-Lilly, K. A., Young, R., & Hamilton, T.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Henry M. Jackson Foundation (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- San Diego State University (US)
- National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, Frederick, Maryland, USA
- Naval Medical Research Command (US)
- AmpliPhi Biosciences (United States) (US)
- Biological Defense Research Directorate, Naval Medical Research Center, Frederick, Maryland, USA
- ORCID
- Schooley, Robert T.
- Biswas, Biswajit
- Gill, Jason J.
- Hernandez-Morales, Adriana
- Barr, Jeremy J.
- Reed, Sharon L.
- Rohwer, Forest
- Benler, Sean
- Segall, Anca M.
- Taplitz, Randy
- Smith, Davey M.
- Kerr, Kim
- Kumaraswamy, Monika
- Nizet, Victor
- Lin, Leo
- Strathdee, Steffanie A.
- Benson, Constance A.
- Pope, Robert K.
- Picel, Andrew C.
- Cilwa, Katherine E.
- Young, Ry
- Hamilton, Theron
- Venue
- Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology
- Published
- 2017-10
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 10
- ISSN
- 0066-4804 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-6596
- PMC
- PMC5610518
- OpenAlex
- W2747615902
- Cited by
- 1,254
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 134 · 2025: 152 · 2024: 154 · 2023: 147 · 2022: 153 · 2021: 171 · 2020: 145 · 2019: 110 · 2018: 81 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 70.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2018-11-26)
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- HHS | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (T32AI007036)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology › Antibiotic Use and Resistance
- Keywords
- phage therapy, Acinetobacter baumannii, multidrug resistance, necrotizing pancreatitis, pancreatic abscess, diabetic patients, phage identification, percutaneous abscess drainage, antibiotic resistance
- MeSH terms
- Phage Therapy, Acinetobacter Infections, Aged, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Bacteriophages, Humans, Male, Minocycline, Pancreatic Pseudocyst, Pancreatitis, Acute Necrotizing, Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial, Acinetobacter baumannii, Gallstones
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