@conference{
author = "Vukotić, Goran and Obradović, Mina and Plačkić, Nikola and Kljajević, Nemanja and Pavić, Aleksandar and Kekić, Dušan and Gajić, Ina and Kojić, Milan and Stanisavljević, Nemanja",
year = "2024",
abstract = "Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) arises when
bacteria and other microbes stop responding
to medications. AMR is now recognized as one
of serious global health threats, repeatedly
appearing in the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) lists of urgent global health challenges,
including the 2024 list. It is taking a fatal toll
– nearly 5 million deaths globally per year are
associated with AMR, encompassing 1.27 million
directly attributed to AMR. The COVID-19
pandemic paved the way for aggravation of
bacterial AMR – primarily due to enhancement
in unspecific and unjustified prescription and
use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, resulting in
what is now recognized as „silent pandemic of
AMR“. Bacteriophages (phages) are natural and
specific predators of bacteria - viruses that can
infect, replicate inside and lyse arguably any
bacteria. Their therapeutic potential is being
hastily evaluated through different approaches:
in silico, in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo – in laboratory
animals as well as in human case and clinical
studies. Although the results are promising,bacteria rapidly develop resistance against
phages, which why the isolation and research
of new phages is needed. Our work is concentrated
on three bacterial species for which critical
priority by WHO has been declared – carbapenem-
resistant Acinetobacter baumannii,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Twenty distinct pathogenic strains of
A. baumannii, 6 K. pneumoniae and 6 P. aeruginosa
were used as targets for bacteriophage
isolation, and total of 14, 22 and 8 potentially
distinct phages were collected, respectively. All
strains were nosocomial isolates obtained from
various tissues, including from terminally ill patients.
Six phages were characterized in detail.
In particular, phage vB_AbaM_ISTD was applied
against A. baumannii in zebrafish embryo
model of systemic infection, and demonstrated
powerful therapeutic potential, eradicating the
infection. Interestingly, its DNA was characterized
with highly modified thymidine (amassing
1228 Da), making it the largest non-canonical
deoxynucleoside reported so far.",
publisher = "Serbian Society for Microbiology",
journal = "XIII Congress of microbiologists of Serbia: From biotechnology to human and planetary health",
title = "BACTERIOPHAGES OF MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT NOSOCOMIAL PATHOGENS – BELGRADE EXPERIENCE",
pages = "121-121",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_imagine_2375"
}