Study of Susceptibility of Urinary Tract Infection causing Escherichia coli Strains to Antibiotics and Bacteriophages

Treating bacterial infections is a serious worldwide challenge in modern medicine that has arisen due to the antibiotic resistance developed by bacteria. Gram-negative microorganisms, including Escherichia species, are characterized by high natural and acquired resistance to the latest generation of antibiotics. Because of the background of reduced therapeutic efficiency of antibiotics, it becomes necessary to develop a different strategy against infections associated with Escherichia microorganisms. At present, the practical use of the antimicrobial properties of bacteriophages is considered as an alternative to antibiotic therapy. The therapeutic potential of bacteriophages is also noteworthy, as it is possible to isolate active, individual phages from environmental specimens, that are pathogenic and active against antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria. The aim of the study was to determine the susceptibility of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains to the action of broad-spectrum antibiotics and bacteriophages and to evaluate their therapeutic potential. The identity of exact species of bacterial strains isolated from clinical urogenital material has been established using the BioMérieux API 20E identification system. The susceptibility of the identified 41 Escherichia coli strains to 15 antibiotics was studied by the double disc-diffusion method. The susceptibility of the same 41 strains to 4 production and 5 individual bacteriophages has been studied using "spot test" method. Studies have shown that all of the identified 41 Escherichia coli strains are resistant to the action of Oxacillin and Erythromycin. However, all of them are sensitive to the antibiotic Imipinem. According to experimental data, strains are more susceptible to production bacteriophage preparations, especially SES bacteriophage, than to individual phages adapted to other strains of the bacterium. The overlapping antibacterial action of antibiotics and bacteriophages was revealed.