Bacteriophage therapy for empyema caused by carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Peifen Chen; Ziqiang Liu; Xin Tan; Haijiang Wang; Yiyang Liang; Yingjun Kong; Wenxue Sun; Liqin Sun; Yingfei Ma; Hongzhou Lu

doi:10.5582/bst.2022.01147

Brief Report

Bacteriophage therapy for empyema caused by carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Peifen Chen, Ziqiang Liu, Xin Tan, Haijiang Wang, Yiyang Liang, Yingjun Kong, Wenxue Sun, Liqin Sun, Yingfei Ma, Hongzhou Lu

Author information

Peifen Chen
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Ziqiang Liu
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
Xin Tan
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
Haijiang Wang
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Yiyang Liang
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Yingjun Kong
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Wenxue Sun
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Liqin Sun
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Yingfei Ma
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
Hongzhou Lu
National Clinical Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.

Keywords: bacteriophage therapy, empyema, carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, pneumonia, broncho-pleural fistula

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2022 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 158-162

DOI https://doi.org/10.5582/bst.2022.01147

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Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a frequent causative agent of post-pneumonectomy empyema-associated broncho-pleural fistula (BPF) and it has a high mortality rate. In recent years, the therapeutic potential of bacteriophage therapy has recognized anew as antimicrobial resistance increases globally. Studies are increasingly reporting the efficacy and safety of bacteriophage therapy for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. However, the clinical efficacy of bacteriophage therapy in empyema has seldom been studied. The current study reports the authors' experience with bacteriophage therapy for a 68-year-old Chinese man who suffered BPF-associated empyema and pneumonia caused by carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa. A personalized lytic pathogen-specific two-phage preparation was administered to the patient continuously for 24 days in combination with conventional antibiotics. The treatment was well-tolerated, resulting in clearance of the pathogen and improvement of the clinical outcome. This experience shows that a combined conventional antibiotic treatment with bacteriophage therapy may be effective at alleviating a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection in BPF-associated empyema.

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