efficacy of phage-antibiotic combinations against multidrug-resistant klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates

Background: increasing antibiotic resistance warrants therapeutic alternatives to eradicate resistant bacteria. combined phage-antibiotic therapy is a promising approach for eliminating bacterial infections and limiting the evolution of therapy-resistant diseases. objectives: in the present study, we evaluated the effects of combinations of bacteriophages and antibiotics against multidrug-resistant (mdr) klebsiella pneumoniae. methods: two mdr strains (genbank no. mf953600 & mf953599) of k. pneumoniae were used. bacteriophages were isolated from hospital sewage samples by employing a double agar overlay assay and identified by transmission electron microscopy. for further characterization of bacteriophages, the killing assay and host range test were performed. to assess therapeutic efficacy, phages (7.5 × 104 pfu/ml) were used in combination with various antibiotics. results: the phage-cefepime and tetracycline combinations displayed promising therapeutic effects, restricting the growth of k. pneumoniae isolates, as evidenced by recording od650nm values. conclusions: the results of the current study showed that phage-antibiotic combination was a potential therapeutic approach to treat the infections caused by mdr k. pneumoniae.