Successful Bacteriophage Treatment of a Recalcitrant Intra-Abdominal Infection Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a 2-Year-Old Child

Sanchi Malhotra; Keiko C Salazar; Neema Pithia; Ishminder Kaur; Kristina Adachi; Nanda Ramachandar; Austin L Terwilliger; Anthony Maresso; Robert S Venick; Suzanne V McDiarmid; John S Bradley

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2026.115005

Successful Bacteriophage Treatment of a Recalcitrant Intra-Abdominal Infection Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a 2-Year-Old Child

J Pediatr. 2026 Apr:291:115005. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2026.115005. Epub 2026 Jan 19.

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA. Electronic address: smalhotra@mednet.ucla.edu.
² TAILΦR Labs, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, CA; Department of Pediatrics, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA.
⁵ Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, CA.

PMID: 41565011
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2026.115005

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is life-threatening to pediatric patients with medical complexity who receive multiple courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Bacteriophages offer a safe treatment alternative when our antibiotic armamentarium is no longer sufficient. We describe successful use of bacteriophage therapy on a patient with a recalcitrant Pseudomonasaeruginosa infection after receiving a multiorgan transplant.

Keywords: Pseudomonas; antimicrobial resistance; bacteriophage; multidrug resistant; transplant.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
Child, Preschool
Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial*
Humans
Male
Phage Therapy* / methods
Pseudomonas Infections* / microbiology
Pseudomonas Infections* / therapy
Pseudomonas aeruginosa*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents