The Joint Action of Bacteriophage and Antibiotics in the Treatment of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> infections in <i>Galleria mellonella</i>
with antibiotics generally enhances clearance, regardless of the antibiotic class. Joint therapy with daptomycin resulted in the complete clearance of infecting bacteria in the majority of larvae. Notably, even when combined with ampicillin, to which the bacteria are highly resistant, approximately half of the larvae achieved infection clearance. Taken together, these results demonstrate that joint therapy with phage and antibiotics enhances clearance beyond what either agent achieves alone, while underscoring that treatment timing and drug-specific pharmacodynamics remain critical determinants of therapeutic outcome.
Authors
- Brandon A. Berryhill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3430-0901)
- Teresa Gil‐Gil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0136-3965)
Institutions
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Emory University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-04-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718207
- Primary Topic
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases