Susceptibility of Achromobacter spp. to bacteriophages and phage/antibiotic combinations
Abstract
Achromobacter infections pose significant challenges to people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It is a growing problem in people with CF because it is difficult to eliminate with antibiotics, leading to chronic lung infections that increasingly acquire antibiotic resistance. Here we identified a cadre of 26 bacteriophages that target clinical Achromobacter isolates. We tested these phages against a collection of 56 Achromobacter isolates and found that all were susceptible to multiple of these phages. We also evaluated whether we could restore the activity of certain antibiotics by using them as adjunctive therapy to phages in vitro. We found that when meropenem (a beta lactam antibiotic) was added to the phages, improved susceptibility (decreased MICs) was demonstrated in many isolates regardless of whether the Achromobacter was initially susceptible to meropenem. The data presented here suggests that combination therapy using meropenem with an active phage should be considered for treatment of Achromobacter infections regardless of pre-existing antibiotic susceptibility.
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BibTeX
@article{orlotti2026susceptibility,
title = {{Susceptibility of Achromobacter spp. to bacteriophages and phage/antibiotic combinations}},
author = {Manola Orlotti and Norhan Turki and Marine Tourneur and Phoolwanti Rani and Jesse Leonard and Natasha Kanhirun and Alisha Blanc and Andrew Su and Yixian Huang and Gabriel Koch and Zachary Pride and Joseph Oh and Monica Bates and Alicia Amamoto and Victoria Carrico and Bethzabe Serrano Buelna and Rob Knight and John Bradley and Douglas Conrad and Joseph Pogliano and Ana Georgina Cobián Güemes and David T. Pride},
journal = {Communications Biology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1038/s42003-026-11282-w},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-11282-w},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Susceptibility of Achromobacter spp. to bacteriophages and phage/antibiotic combinations
AU - Manola Orlotti
AU - Norhan Turki
AU - Marine Tourneur
AU - Phoolwanti Rani
AU - Jesse Leonard
AU - Natasha Kanhirun
AU - Alisha Blanc
AU - Andrew Su
AU - Yixian Huang
AU - Gabriel Koch
AU - Zachary Pride
AU - Joseph Oh
AU - Monica Bates
AU - Alicia Amamoto
AU - Victoria Carrico
AU - Bethzabe Serrano Buelna
AU - Rob Knight
AU - John Bradley
AU - Douglas Conrad
AU - Joseph Pogliano
AU - Ana Georgina Cobián Güemes
AU - David T. Pride
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
JO - Communications Biology
DO - 10.1038/s42003-026-11282-w
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-11282-w
AB - Achromobacter infections pose significant challenges to people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It is a growing problem in people with CF because it is difficult to eliminate with antibiotics, leading to chronic lung infections that increasingly acquire antibiotic resistance. Here we identified a cadre of 26 bacteriophages that target clinical Achromobacter isolates. We tested these phages against a collection of 56 Achromobacter isolates and found that all were susceptible to multiple of these phages. We also evaluated whether we could restore the activity of certain antibiotics by using them as adjunctive therapy to phages in vitro. We found that when meropenem (a beta lactam antibiotic) was added to the phages, improved susceptibility (decreased MICs) was demonstrated in many isolates regardless of whether the Achromobacter was initially susceptible to meropenem. The data presented here suggests that combination therapy using meropenem with an active phage should be considered for treatment of Achromobacter infections regardless of pre-existing antibiotic susceptibility.
SN - 2399-3642
ER -