August 13, 2024: Phage Therapy and Implications for the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the role of phage therapy in the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant infections.
• Identify clinical situations in which phage therapy might be considered.
• Describe susceptibility testing methods for clinical phage therapy.
• Discuss implications of increasing utilization of phage therapy for the clinical microbiology laboratory.

Articles

• Le T, Nang SC, et al. 2023. Therapeutic Potential of Intravenous Phage as Standalone Therapy for Recurrent Drug-Resistant Urinary Tract Infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 67:e00037-23.
• Parmar K, Komarow L, et al. 2023. Interlaboratory comparison of Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage susceptibility testing. J Clin Microbiol 61:e00614-23.

Presenters

• Alexis Jaramillo Cartagena, Ph.D., CPEP Medical and Public Health Microbiology Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
• Filipe Cerqueira, Ph.D., Associate Director of Clinical Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospitals, Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Moderator

• Belkys C. Sánchez, Ph.D., M.Sc., Associate Director of the Microbiology Diagnostic Laboratory, Houston Methodist Hospital.

Discussion Panel

• Saima Aslam, M.B.B.S., ABIM, Medical Director, Solid Organ Transplant Infectious Diseases, Clinical Lead, Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics, Associate Professor, University of California San Diego.
• Patricia Simner, Ph.D., D(ABMM), Director of the Medical Bacteriology and Infectious Disease Sequencing Laboratories, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
• Gregory German, M.D., Ph.D., FRCPC, DTM&H (UK), Medical Microbiologist, Unity Health Toronto, Associate Professor, University of Toronto.
• Krupa Parmar, Ph.D., Phage Therapy Research Technologist, Mayo Clinic.