Bacteriophage-Antibiotic Combinations for Enterococcus faecium with Varying Bacteriophage and Daptomycin Susceptibilities

Abstract

Concerns regarding increased prevalence of daptomycin (DAP)-resistant strains necessitate novel therapies for <i>Enterococcus faecium</i> infections. Obligately lytic bacteriophages are viruses that target, infect, and kill bacterial cells. Limited studies have evaluated phage-antibiotic combinations against <i>E. faecium</i> After an initial screen of eight <i>E. faecium</i> strains, three strains with varying DAP/phage susceptibilities were selected for further experiments. Phage-to-strain specificity contributed to synergy with antibiotics by time-kill analyses and was associated with lower development of phage resistance.