Key points from article :
A women developed a superbug infection on her left thigh.
Infected with two strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, one of which exhibited a drug-resistant phenotype.
Wound failed to heal after nearly two years of antibiotic treatments.
Samples were sent to the George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology.
Identified a phage that could efficiently infect and kill the patient's K. pneumoniae strains.
Phages were trained to kill specific bacteria very effectively, through a process called pre-adaptation.
Showed improvement within two days of starting phage therapy, she was also switched to a newly-available antibiotic against drug-resistant K. pneumoniae, - Anaïs Eskenazi, the study's first author.
After three months, there were no signs of the superbug and her wound was steadily healing.
After three years, patient has regained mobility; bacterial infection has not returned.
Case report by CUB-Erasmus hospital published in the journal Nature Communications.
