Abstract
Nosocomial infections (NIs) are hospital-acquired infections which pose a high healthcare burden worldwide. The impact of NIs is further aggravated by the global spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Conventional treatment and disinfection agents are often insufficient to catch up with the increasing AMR and tolerance of the pathogenic bacteria. This has resulted in a need for alternative approaches and raised new interest in therapeutic bacteriophages (phages). In contrast to the limited clinical options available against AMR bacteria, the extreme abundance and biodiversity of phages in nature provides an opportunity to establish an ever-expanding phage library that collectively provides sustained broad-spectrum and poly microbial coverage. Given the specificity of phage-host interactions, phage susceptibility testing can serve as a rapid and cost-effective method for bacterial subtyping. The library can also provide a database for routine monitoring of nosocomial infections as a prelude to preparing ready-to-use phages for patient treatment and environmental sterilization. Despite the remaining obstacles for clinical application of phages, the establishment of phage libraries, pre-stocked phage vials prepared to good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, and pre-optimized phage screening technology will facilitate efforts to make phages available as modern medicine. This may provide the breakthrough needed to demonstrate the great potential in nosocomial infection management.
Highlights
Nosocomial infections (NIs), known as hospital-acquired infections (HAI), are infections that are newly acquired in a hospital or other healthcare facility
The misuse and overuse of antibiotics are accelerating the creation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has become a major public health problem
We propose a practical model of nosocomial infection management that uses phages
Summary
Nosocomial infections (NIs), known as hospital-acquired infections (HAI), are infections that are newly acquired in a hospital or other healthcare facility. An increasing number of phage libraries has been established recently, the overall scale is small and the information in most of the existing phage collections is incomplete (Table 1) (Yerushalmy et al, 2020) This strongly limits wide access to phage therapy since not all patients can afford the timeconsuming process of mailing pathogenic bacteria from a healthcare facility to a phage repository, followed by screening lytic phages and mailing therapeutic phages back; neither can they afford time for de novo phage screening from nature. In contrast to the limited number of antibiotics available, the extreme abundance and biodiversity of phages in nature make it possible to build an ever-expanding phage library that collectively provides sustained broad-spectrum and poly microbial coverage against the most common nosocomial pathogens such as the ESKAPE group (E. faecium, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) (Rice, 2008).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
