“Real-Time” High-Throughput Drug and Synergy Testing for Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infection: A Case Report

• Main Authors: Wei Sun, Shayla Hesse, Miao Xu, Richard W. Childs, Wei Zheng, Peter R. Williamson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Medicine
• Subjects: multidrug-resistant organisms; Klebsiella pneumoniae; real-time drug test; antibiotic combination therapy; drug repurposing screen
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmed.2018.00267/full

Antibiotic management of infections with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) represents a complex clinical challenge. We report here the first patient with a severe MDRO infection managed with assistance of a novel “real-time” 3-day high-throughput screen (HTS) that allowed screening of 9 drugs in 14 combinations in 2,304 total samplings. Identified synergies were used to modify patient therapy with the goal of reducing drug-induced toxicity. The desired clinical outcome was achieved on the HTS-informed therapeutic regimen, supporting the utility of HTS technology to expand standard antimicrobial susceptibility testing.