title: Successful treatment of experimental Escherichia coli infections in mice using phage: its general superiority over antibiotics.
abstract: Anti-K 1 phages were more active in vitro and in vivo against an 018:K1:H7 ColV+ Escherichia coli strain, designated MW, than were other phages. A single intramuscular dose of one anti-K1 phage was more effective than multiple intramuscular does of tetracycline, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, or trimethoprim plus sulphafurazole in curing mice of a potentially lethal intramuscularly or intracerebrally induced infection of MW; it was at least as effective as multiple intramuscular doses of streptomycin. When MW and the phage were inoculated into different gastrocnemius muscles of the same mice, a rapid reduction in numbers of MW organisms occurred in the MW-inoculated muscle and in other tissues; the numbers of phage particles in the MW-inoculated muscle increased rapidly and greatly. MW failed to proliferate in the brains of intracerebrally infected mice that had been inoculated intramuscularly with the phage at the same time; many more phage particles were found in the brains of these mice than in other sites. The few phage-resistant mutants of MW found in the phage-treated mich were K1-; previous studies had shown such mutants to be of greatly reduced virulence. The phage administered intramuscularly 3-5 d before challenge with a potentially lethal intramuscularly induced infection of MW was protective, the protective effect varying between phage propagated on different bacterial strains.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000382:microbiology; D003090:Coliphages / Q000502:physiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000254:growth & development; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009132:Muscles / Q000382:microbiology; D018805:Sepsis; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology; D014766:Viremia
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents