Phage-antibiotic synergy reduces Burkholderia cenocepacia population

BACKGROUND: Burkholderia cenocepacia is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause acute and chronic infections in patients with weakened immune systems and in patients with cystic fibrosis. B. cenocepacia is resistant to many antibiotics making treatment challenging. Consequently, there is a critical need for alternative strategies to treat B. cenocepacia infections such as using bacteriophages and/or bacteriophages with subinhibitory doses of antibiotic called phage-antibiotic synergy. RESULTS: We isolated a bacteriophage, KP1, from raw sewage that infects B. cenocepacia. Its morphological characteristics indicate it belongs in the family Siphoviridae, it has a 52 Kb ds DNA genome, and it has a narrow host range. We determined it rescued infections in Lemna minor (duckweed) and moderately reduced bacterial populations in our artificial sputum medium model. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that KP1 phage alone in the duckweed model or in combination with antibiotics in the ASMDM model improves the efficacy of reducing B. cenocepacia populations.