Isolation and characterization of three novel Acinetobacter baumannii phages from Beninese hospital wastewater

Abstract

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen that is mostly associated with hospital-acquired infections. The rapid emergence of multi- and pan-drug-resistant Acinetobacter strains poses an increasing challenge in hospitals. Phage therapy offers one treatment option for infections caused by A. baumannii. We isolated three phages from Beninese hospital wastewater - fBenAci001, fBenAci002, and fBenAci003 - that infected clinical A. baumannii strains from Finnish patients. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these phages resemble phages of the genus Friunavirus, family Autographiviridae. The isolated phages meet the requirements set for phages used for phage therapy. However, they were found to have a narrow host range, which may limit their therapeutic use.