Successful Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Prosthetic Joint Infection with Bacteriophage Therapy.

Abstract

Successful joint replacement is a life-enhancing procedure with significant growth in the past decade. Prosthetic joint infection occurs rarely; it is a biofilm-based infection that is poorly responsive to antibiotic alone. Recent interest in bacteriophage therapy has made it possible to treat some biofilm-based infections, as well as those caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens, successfully when conventional antibiotic therapy has failed. Here, we describe the case of a 61-year-old woman who was successfully treated after a second cycle of bacteriophage therapy administered at the time of a two-stage exchange procedure for a persistent methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) prosthetic knee-joint infection. We highlight the safety and efficacy of both intravenous and intra-articular infusions of bacteriophage therapy, a successful outcome with a single lytic phage, and the development of serum neutralization with prolonged treatment.

• Authors: Claudia Ramirez-Sanchez, Francis Gonzales, Maureen Buckley, Biswajit Biswas, Matthew Henry, Michael V Deschenes, Bri'Anna Horne, Joseph Fackler, Michael J Brownstein, Robert T Schooley, Saima Aslam
• Journal: Viruses (Viruses) Vol. 13 Issue 6 (06 21 2021) ISSN: 1999-4915 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 34205687 (Publication Type: Case Reports)

Topics

• Arthritis, Infectious (therapy)
• Bacteriophages (classification, physiology)
• Biofilms (growth & development)
• Female
• Humans
• Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (pathogenicity, virology)
• Middle Aged
• Phage Therapy (methods)
• Prosthesis-Related Infections (microbiology, therapy)
• Staphylococcal Infections (therapy)